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Bacon  and  Shakepere 


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THAT 


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WBITTEN    BT 

Francis   Bacon 

TO   THE 

EARL  OF  ESSEX  AND   HIS  BRIDE, 

A.  D.   1590. 


PAXEFACTUS      P O E T A      OCCUUTAXUS 
A.  D.  1689-1600. 

S3t)  SSm.  §enrt)  Surr. 
BRENTANO    BROS. 

WASHINGTON,  NEW  YOKK,  CHIOAQO. 

1880. 


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in  2008  with  funding  from 

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PROOF 

THAT 

WILLIAM    SHAKSPERj      yy 

COULD  NOT  WRITE. 


WKITTKN    BY 

f'rancis    bacon 

TO    THE 

EARL    OF    ESSEX    AND    HIS    BRIDE, 
A.  D.  1590. 


BACON   IDENTIFIED 

AS     THE     CONCEAL KD     POET     IGNOTO, 

A.   I).    I5S9 — 1600. 


W  M  .     II  E  N  R  Y     13  U  R  R  ,f\  -/i/) . (jyi'H-l'jfOy] 


WASHINGTON,    D.   C. 


W     C-i-^.T*'^'  W.  Bnr.r.        January  22.  . 


pyriglu,  1885,  by  W.  H.  IJurr. 


PREFACE 


QUEEN   ELIZABETH'S  "YOUNG  LORD  KEEPER. 

FROM  /:,  BUST. 


'V 


u 


4^ 


SHAKSPEII    COULD  NOT  WRITE 


PROOF  u. 


No   liaudwriting'  of   Shaksper^   bas  ever  been  dis4^ 
covered  except  five  autographs.     In  March  1G13,  ^Yl^en^ 
he  was  nearly  49  years  old,  be  ^tgiircl  his  name  to  "a^' 
mortgage,   and  again  to  a  deed  relative  to  the  samoj 
transaction.     Three  years  later  4*«(^bsciib§ill.liis  name  vr^^^t^ 
to  three  briefs  or  sheets  of  his  will.     The  five  fac- 
similes  are  here  reproduced :  <fj 


d9— 


^f/'^7 


CS>^^<^       '^ 


'W^^f^u^       

They  are  all  such  signatures  as  an  illiterate  personr; 
unaccustomed  to  write,  would  be  likely  to  scrawl ;  ando 


.qsr?f>of; 


4  PROOF    THAT    SIIAKSPPIR 

they  are  so  different  that  au  acquaintance  with  one  is 
little  help  to  the  recognition  of  another. 

In  the  fir-st  signature  he  writes  Wm.  for  Wilham. 

The  second  and  third  autographs  have  William 
written  above  Shaksper  Who  but  an  illiterate  per- 
son would  sign  his  name  thus  ? 

In  the  last  two  signatures  (being  told  perhaps  that 
his  name  ought  to  be  written  on  one  line)  he  puts 
William  before  Shaksper  ;  but  the  fourth  William 
reads  Willm. 

See  now  how  differently  each  letter  is  formed  in  the 
name  Shaksper  .,  beginning  with  the  initial : 

Did  anybody  ever  write  the  first  letter  of  his  name 
so  differently '?     After  four  attempts  to  form  a  capital 

5  he  succeeds  tolerably  well  the  fifth  time.  The  second 
S,  though  of  singular  shajoe,  appears  to  have  been  a 
customary  one  as  early  as  1598.  (See  examples  of  that 
year  below.)  Shaksper  's  first  attempt  to  form  the 
crooked  letter  is  a  failure,  but  the  second  passably 
good.  So  again  in  1616,  when  he  has  a  different  form 
to  copy,  his  first  attempt  is  futile,  the  second  is  passable, 
and  the  third  quite  successful. 

But  in  attempting  the  next  letter  he  makes  it  worse 
every  time : 

With  the  letter  a  he  is  more  successful,  making  it 
legible  three  times  out  of  five : 


a    <v 


*yt    Ciy      ii^ 


COULD    NOT    WRITE. 


But  the  attempt  to  form  a  /^:  is  a  signal  failure : 

/  ^  /  fr  ^ 

With  the  loug  s  he  succeeds  best  the  first  time,  and 
worst  the  second  and  third : 


/y  y /.^ 


TheJ  letter  p  is  legible  the  first  time,  but  grows  worse 
and  worse  to  the  last : 


V  ^  "^  f  r 


It  seems  as  if  in  the  first  attempt  to  sign  his  name  in 
1613  he  thought  it  Vv-as  complete  when  he  made  it  end 
with  s  p  e  ■  bat  being  reminded  that  it  lacked  a  letter 
or  U\6  he  undertook  to  add  one  by  putting  an  a  over 
the  e  thus : 

i; 

The  next  time,  which  was  probably  the  same  day,* 
he  seems  to  have  written  his  name  Shaksper,  though 
the  terminal  letters  are  uncertain  : 

The  third  time  he  gets  it  more  like  Shakspoze  : 


*  The  deed  to  Shaksperc,  and  two  other  trustees  is  dated  March 
10  and  signed  Henry  Walker.  The  uiortgago  from  Shaksper. 
and  the  other  trustees  is  dated  ]March  11.  But  for  some  nn- 
nccouutalilc  reason  a  dupUcate  verbatim  copy  of  the  deed  from 
Henry  Walker  is  signed  by  William  Shaksper  ;.  This  duplicate 
is  iu  the  Library  of  the  city  of  London  ;  the  mortgage  is  in  the 
British  Museum.  The  duplicate  deed  we  suspect  was  signed 
fitter  the  mortgage.  Hence  the  improvement  in  the  autograph ; 
it  was  probably  Shaksper  ;'s  second  attempt  to  write.  Coini);ire 
it  with  the  third. 


6  PROOF    THAT    SHAKSPER^C 

The  fourtli  time  he  seems  to  have  tried  to  disguise 
the  termination  with  awkward  Nourishes,  making-  the 
letters  totally  illegible : 

^- 

Finally,  he  omits  the  flourishes  and  comes  nearer 
legibility,  but  still  it  is  impossible  to  tell  whether  he 
meant  to  write  ear,  ere,  or  eare : 

And  now  let  the  reader  mark,  that  notwithstanding 
the  orthodox  spelling  of  the  name  from  1503  to  1616, 
and  indeed  up  to  the  present  time,  was  and  is  Shake- 
speare, there  is  no  e  in  the  first  syllable  and  no  a  in 
the  last,  althougk  some  have  imagined  the  letter  a  to 
exist  in  the  last  part  of  the  final  autograph. 

We  havy  said  that  these  signatures  are  all  that 
Shaksper  is^kt»»\m  to  have  written  ;  we  ought  to  add 
that  he  prefixed  to  the  last  one  the  following  scrawl : 


I  /^ 


t^^ 


For  a  long  time  we  puzzled  over  this.  Could  it  be 
an  attempt  to  write  '•  25th  of  March,"  the  day  of  the 
execution  of  the  will  ?  At  last  we  read  the  follow- iug  in 
Hallowell-Phillipps's  ShaSsp&e : 

"  It  may  be  observed  that  the  words  By  me,  which,  the  auto- 
graph excepted,  are  the  only  ones  in  the  poet's  handwriting 
known  to  exist,  appear  to  have  been  j^euned  with  ordinary 
firmness." 

Presuming  that  the  signatures  were  made  in  a  sick 
bed.  the  author  concedes  that  the  words  "  By  me  "  were 
penned  with  ordinary  firmness.  Very  good  ;  but  could 
not  almost  any  five-year-old  boy  do  as  well  the  first 
time? 


COULD    NOT    WRITE.  i 

In  1775  certain  papers  and  legal  instruments  were 
published,  attributed  to  Shakspe^e,  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  Southampton.  In  1796  Edmund  Malone  proved 
them  to  be  forgeries.  Here  is  one  of  the  forged  auto- 
graphs of  Shaksper . : 

This  is  superior  to  any  of  the  genuine  ones,  "which  in 
some  degree  it  resembles.  The  letter  a  is  pretty  clearly 
written  in  the  last  syllable,  as  if  the  forger  meant  to 
establish  the  proper  spelling  of  that  part  of  the  name. 
Malone,  who  at  first  pronounced  the  genuine  orthogra- 
I)hy  to  be  Shakspeare,  subsequently  declared  Shaksper 
to  be  the  poet's  own  mode  of  spelling  his  name  beyond 
all  doubt.  But  others  do  not  accede  to  this  decision, 
because  they  think  there  is  an  a  in  the  last  of  the  five 
genuine  signatures. 

The  solution  of  the  whole  mystery  is  in  the  fact  that 
Shaksper  was  unable  to  write  or  even  to  spell  his  own 
name. 

In  1598  Richard  Quiney  addressed  a  letter  to  him 
asking  for  a  loan  of  £30,  and  the  name  was  written 
Shackesper  : 

In  the  same  year  amoi^g  thirteen  names  of  holders  of 
corn  in  Stratford  the  last  but  one  is  Shakesper : 

The  form  of  the  letter  a  \\\  botli  these  fac-similes 


8  I'KOOF    THAT    SHAKSPER  ■ 

was  peculiar   to  that  time.     It  occurs  in  Shakspere's 

second  autograph.     Wh}^  did  he  thus  vary  the  form  f 

Probably  because  he  followed  the  copy  set  for  him. 
Note  now  the  various  spellings  of  his  name : 

In  1582,  as  a  bridegroom,  Shagsper. 

In  1.593  and  1504,  as  a  poet,  Shakespeare  ;  and  the 
same  uniformly  as  a  playwright  from  1598  to  1623,. 
but  sometimes  with  a  hyphen — Shake-speare. 

In  1596,  as  an  inhabitant  of  Southwark,  Shaksper. 

In  1598,  as  addressed  by  letter.  Shackesper. 

In  1598,  as  owner  of  corn,  Shakesper. 

In  1604,  as  plaintiff  in  a  suit,  Shexpere. 

In  1G04  and  1605,  as  author  of  plays  performed  at 
Whitehall  before  I^ng  James,  Shaxberd. 

In  1609,  as  plaintiff  in  a  suit,  Shackspeare. 

In  1612,  as  plaintiff  in  a  suit,  Schackspeare. 

In  1614,  as  written  by  his  cousin,  Shakspear. 

lu  1616,  as  twice  written  in  his  will,  Shackspeare  ;  but 
in  signing  the  same  three  times  he  omits  the  c  in 
the  first  syllable,  and  it  is  impossible  to  tell  what 
the  last  three  or  four  letters  are.  And  although 
in  the  two  Deeds  of  1613  the  name  is  written 
repeatedly  Shakespeare,  in  signing  them  he  omits 
the  e  in  the  first  syllable  both  times,  and  varies 
the  termination  of  the  name,  just  as  an  illiterate 
person  would  be  likely  to  do. 
But  there  are  more  of  these  various  spellings.     All 

the  records  of   Shaksper  ,'s  lifetime  have  been  hunted 

up  and  printed.     From  these  documents,  consisting  of 

deeds,  bills  of  complaint,  letters,  poems,  plays,  etc., — 

most  of  which  especially  concerned  either  the  father  or 

sou  or  both — we  extract  the  following  spellings,  giving. 

the  dates : 


t3 

e 
C 

® 
COULD    NOT    WRITE.  ^ 

Shakspere  1558,  '62,  '63,  '64,  '66,  '69,  '71,  '79,  80,  '83^  . 

'85,  '90,  '96,   1616,  '17.     (John  Shakspere  and  alpo- 

his  offspring  so  registered,  except  Eichard  Shaks-jj^o 

peer,  baptized  1574.)  ■^■^ 

Shaxpere  1558,  '79,  1607,  '08.  %^ 

Shakspe^n-  1567,  ('"Mr.,''  meaning  John.)  ■^'■^ 

Shakysper  1568,  ('•  Mr.  John.")  5' ° 

Shackespere  1573,  '89,  1602.  ><D 

Shakespere  1575,  '79,  '96,  '97,  '98,  '99,  1602,  '04,  '06,  'OS^-^ 

;      '09,  10.  '11,  '13.  ^R 

Shackspere  1579,  (Deed.  "Joannis  Shaxpere +.'")  1608,?^ 

Shagsper  1582,   (Marriage  bond — twice  so  written.)      -■- 

Shake-scene  1592,  (Greene,  the  playwright,  in  derision.)^ 

Shakespeare  1593-1594,  (Poems,)  1596,  '98,  1603,  '05,    C 


'13,  (and  all  Plays  from  1598  to  1623.) 


Shaksper  1596,  '98,  1613,  (Signature,)  1616 

Shakesper  1598,  (Owner  of  corn.)  ;^* 
Shaekesper  1598,  (Letter  from  Quinev  to  Shakspere.)    co^ 

Shaki^peare  1601.  '03,  '07,  '12,  '13,  '14,  1623.  ~^ 

Shackespeare  1603,  '14,  (Agreement.)  7:^ 

Shexpere  1604,  (Suit  for  malt  sold.)  -^ 

Shaxberd  1604,  '05,  (Dramatist,  Whitehall.)  ^'S 

Shakespear  1605,  (Conveyance.)  ■'-•*^ 
Shakesphear  1605,  (Same  conveyance.) 


■p 


Shackspeare  1608,  '12,  '14,  '16.  '^!^ 

+5chackspeare  1612,  '14,  (Complaint  and  agreement.)      ^ 

Shaksp;:  1613.  (Signature.)  ^ 

Shakspear  1614,  (Cousin's  letter.)  5® 

Shaksp  *  *  ♦  1616,  (Signatures  to  Will.)  -t^<i> 

Shaxper   1616,    ("Bell   and    pall    for  Mr.    Shaxper^.*^ 

dawghter,  viij.  f?.")  cvm 

If  we  divide  the  name  between  the  .s  and  p  we  haveO-  5 
the  following  variations  of  each  part :  I  C 

Shaks,    Shakes,    Shaky s.  Shacks,    Shackes,  Schacks,<  g 
Shags,  Shax,  Shex  ;  per,  pere,  peer,  pear,  peare,  peyr,^ro  re 
phear,   berd,  p;;,  p  ♦  *  *  .  — n    c, 

Shaksper  's  daughter  Judith   in  1611  witnessed  two  <^cw  ^^ 
instruments   by   making   her   mark.      And   his    other  c"c6  » 

re         '•'•' 

c   ■■'- 
o  -^ 

B 

re    **-< 


10  PROOF    THAT    SIIAKSPER" 

daughter  Susanna  in  1CA2  (lisputed  the  unmistakable 
handwriting  of  lier  deceased  husband  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  betray  her  ilhteracy. 

Mr.  C.  F.  Gunther,  of  Chicago,  claims  to  have  ob- 
tained a  oopy  of  the  Shal^pai-e  Folio  of  1632,  {i.e.,  the 
second  Folio,)  containing  the  author's  autograph  pasted 
on  .1  fly-loaf,  underneath  which  is  written : 

'•  The  works  of  William  Shakespeare.  Born  in  April,  lft64, 
and  died  in  April,  16W>.  John  Ward." 

And  on  the  same  fly-leaf  is  pasted  a  letter  from 
Charles  Godwin,  of  Bath,  dated  February  16,  1839,  to 
Dr.  Charles  Severn,  of  London,  who  was  then  editing 
"The  Diary  of  the  Rev.  John  Ward,  A.  M.,"  Vicar  of 
Stratford-upon-Avon  from  1648  to  1679. 

The  book  is  said  to  have  been  owned  by  a  Mormon, 
and  is  supjoosed  to  have  been  brought  from  England 
by  an  emigrant  to  Utah.  Aside  from  the  impossibility 
of  such  an  autograph  escaping  from  England  to  the 
wilds  of  America  and  remaining  undiscovered  so  many 
years,  the  fac-simile  in  the  Chicago  Current  of  May  23, 
1885.  betrays  most  certain  evidence  of  fraud.  Compare 
it  with  the  five  gStAui+e  scrawls  of  Shaksper-.  It  is  so 
exact  a  copy  of  the  last  signature  to  the  will  as  to  in- 
dicate tliat  it  was  traced  therefrom. 

Shakspero's  last  signature : 

Pretended  autograph  in  Chicago  : 


COULD    NOT    WRITE. 


11 


This  close  resemblance  in  so  clumsy  an  autograph 
"would  be  exti"aordinary,  if  not  impossible  ;  but  how 
easy  to  forge  it  by  first  tracing  it  lightly  with  a  pencil 
and  then  completing  it  with  a  pen.  Here  is  a  hair-line 
tracing  of  the  spurious  over  the  genuine  autograph  : 

/^^-^^  &U^r^^ 

Even  the  most  illiterate  man  who  is  obliged  often  to 
sign  his  name,  will  do  it  uniformly,  so  that  when  3'ou 
have  seen  his  signature  once  j^ou  will  know  it  again. 
For  example,  take  the  following  autograj)hs: 


z 


^  ^ 


1     e/-^^^. 


J^^ 


'./A 


Washington,  D.  C,  May  31,  1885. 

The  undersigned,  aged  78  years,  wrote  the  above  autographs 
in  presence  of  the  two  subscribing  witnesses.  And  he  never 
wrote  and  cannot  write  anything  but  his  name,  though  he  can 
read  print  with  ease.  And  he  further  says  that  he  learned  to 
write  his  name  in  the  course  of  one  month  in  the  administration 
of  President  Polk  (1845-'i»,)  while  serving  as  a  Capitol  police- 
man ;  otherwise  he  would  have  been  obliged  to  sign  the  jiay-roll 
with  his  cross. 

Witness  :  A.  Watson,  JOHN  W.   SMITH. 

Wm.  Henry  Burr. 

Bacon  required  a  mask,  and  he  found  it  in  the 
illiterate  j*i«,y--»«>tim"  Shaksper  . 


NO  TRUE  LIKENESS  OF  SHAKSPER;]. 


The  likeness  of  Shakspere  in  the  Folio  of  1623  has  freqiiently 
been  called  "  an  abominable  libel  on  humanity."  And  yet  its 
fidelity  is  certified  by  Ben  Jonson  in  laudatory  lines.  Jonson 
was  Bacon's  friend  and  enthusiastic  admirer.  If  there  was  an 
original  portrait  of  that  wooden  face  it  has  never  been  found. 
If  there  was  a  better  likeness  of  Shakspere  in  existence  why 
was  it  not  reproduced  in  that  famous  Folio?  The  same  ugly 
engraving  reapi:)eared  in  all  the  later  editions  up  to  1685. 

The  bust  on  the  monument  at  Stratford  was  first  noticed  in 
1623.  It  was  not  taken  from  life,  and  is  unlike  any  jjicture  of 
Shaksper  .  It  presents  him  in  the  act  of  comi^osition,  and 
"the  vincomica,"  says  Boaden,  "  so  broadens  his  countenance, 
that  it  is  hardly  a  stretch  of  fancy  to  suppose  him  in  the  actual 
creation  of  Falstaff  himself."  More  likely,  we  should  say, 
Falstafif  was  Shakspere — Fall-staff,  Shake-spear. 

The  most  familiar  pictures  of  Shaksper .  are  very  different 
from  either  of  these,  and  generally  far  more  intellectual  and 
refined.  They  are  pretended  copies  of  what  is  called  the 
Chandos  portrait,  but  are  not  much  like  it.  The  Chandos  pic- 
ture was  jjainted  by  an  unknown  artist,  and  has  been  altered 
by  a  later  hand.  It  is  said  to  have  been  owned  by  Sir  William 
Davenant,  who  died  in  1668  ;  and  he  is  said  to  have  obtained 
it  from  an  actor  named  Joseph  Taylor,  who  died  about  1653  at 
the  ago  of  70.  This  we  gather  from  Boaden's  ' '  Portraits  of 
Shal^pere,"  1824.  But  now  comes  a  further  statement  jjurport- 
iug  to  be  written  in  Mr.  Guuther's  Folio,  by  one  Charles  Lomax, 
in  1781,  as  follows: 

"  The  only  original  picture  now  extant  of  Shakespeare  was 
painted  by  Joseph  Taylor,  one  of  the  actors,"  &c. 

The  rest  of  the  jiretended  information  agrees  with  what  we 
find  in  Boaden's  book,  which  has  a  picture  taken  fi-om  the 
Chandos  portrait  quite  different  from  those  we  generally  see, 
and  not  much  like  the  Droeshout  engraving  in  the  Sha^pere 
Folio. 

Shaksper'   probably  never  had  a  portrait  taken. 


THE  SONNETS  OF  SHAK^PEjIE 

WBITTEN    BY 

FRANCIS  BACON  TO  THE  EARL  OF  ESSEX 
^'      '    AND  HIS   BRIDE,  A.  D.  1590. 

"  The  mystery  of  the  Sonnets  will  never  be  unfolded." 

—Richard  Grant  White,  18G5. 
■    "  All  is  supposition  :  the  mysterj'  is  insoluble." 

— Dr.  Charles  Maakay,  1884. 
The  mystery  unfolded  by  W.  H.  Buru,  JiUy  31,  1883. 


Tlie  first  published  poem  of  Sbakspei-e,  so  far  as 
known,  was  "  Venus  and  Adonis,"  in  1503.  It  was 
dedicated  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  then  about 
twenty  years  of  age.  Five  or  six  editions  were  called 
for  in  nine  years.  The  "  Sonnets  "  did  not  appear  till 
1G09.  The  latter  poem  has  154  stanzas  of  14  lines 
each ;  the  first  126  are  addressed  to  a  beautiful  and 
ardently  beloved  youth ;  the  remainder  to  the  young 
man's  betrothed. 

As  to  the  merits  of  the  composition,  the  American 
Cyclopedia  says  : 

'•These  '  Sonnets,'  though  deform jd  with  occasional  conceits, 
far  surpass  all  other  poems  of  their  kind  in  our  own  language, 
or  perhaps  any  other." 

The  dedication  is  in  these  words  : 

"  To  the  Oldie  begetter  of  |  these  insuiug  Sonnets  |  Mr.  \V. 
II.  all  happinesse  |  and  that  eternitie  |  promised  by  |  our  ever- 
Uviug  poet  I  wisheth  |  the  well-wishing  |  adventurer  in  |  setting 
forth  I  T.  T." 


14  THK    SONNETS    OF    SHAlv^iPf^E 

Some  have  believed  that  "  Mr.  W.  H."  was  William 
Heibert ;  and  a  German  critic  supposes  the  initials  to 
signify  ''  William  Himself."  But  the  American  Cyclo- 
pedia says : 

"  To  whom  they  were  written,  and  in  whose  person  is  among 
the  most  difficult  of  unsolved  literary  problems.  .  .  .  Who 
this  '  onlio  begetter  '  was  no  man  has  yet  been  able  satisfactorily 
to  show."* 

In  regard  to  the  hypothesis  that  "  W.  H."  was  Wil- 
liam Hei'bert  the  same  authority  says  there  is  almost 
as  much  ground  for  the  notion  that  the  person  ad- 
dressed was  Queen  l^lizabeth  in  doublet  and  hose. 

In  1872  we  first  read  Nathaniel  Holmes's  "Author- 
ship of  Shalfep^e  ; ''  since  then  we  have  never  enter- 
tained a  reasonable  doubt  that  BaCon  was  the  author 
of  the  Plays.  In  1882  we  reread  them  all  in  the  light 
of  that  discovery ;  but  until  July  31,  1883,  we  had 
never  read  a  page  of  the  "  Sonnets,"  nor  when  we  be- 
gan to  read  them  on  that  day  did  we  remember  to  have 
heard  who  "  W.  H."  was  supposed  to  be.  But  coming 
to  the  twenty-fifth  sonnet,  we  suspected  that  the 
poem  was  addressed  to  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and  subse- 
quent research  confirmed  that  suspicion. 

Herbert  was  aixl^an  years  younger  than  Shaksperi, 
and  nineteen  years  younger  than  Bacon.  If,  therefore, 
the  poem  was  written  in  1590,  which  we  purpose  to 
show,  it  is  impossible  for  Herbert  to  have  been  the 

*  Dr.  Charles  Mackay  attempts  to  solve  the  problem  in  an 
elaborate  article  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  August,  1884,  enti- 
tled "A  Tangled  Skein  Unravelled."  He  claims  only  to  have 
found  indications  of  mixed  authorship.  But  this  only  makes 
the  tangle  worse,  which  began  with  Shaksper  's  ostensible 
authorship ;  and  the  last  despairing  words  of  the  astute  uu- 
raveller  are  :  "All  is  supposition,  the  mystery  is  insoluble." 


WRITTEN    BY    BACON    TO    ESSEX.  15 

"  onlie  begetter  of  these  Sonnete,"  for  he  was  then  only 
ten  years  old. 

Of  coux'se  no  one  will  date  their  composition  as  late 
as  1609,  when  Shaksper  was  forty-fi^e  and  Bacon 
forty-eight.  At  that  time  the  former  had  retired 
from  the  stage,  and  Bacon  had  been  for  six  years 
King's  counsel  and  three  years  a  married  man.  And 
certainly  two  sonnets  (138  and  144)  were  composed  as 
early  as  1599,  for  they  are  repeated  at  the  beginning 
of  "  The  Passionate  Pilgrim,"  which  was  first  pub- 
lished in  that  year. 

All  the  internal  and  external  evidence  points  to 
the  year  1590  as  the  date,  Francis  Bacon  as  the 
writer,  and  the  Earl  of  Essex  as  the  person  addressed. 
It  is  said  that  Bacon  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Essex  ^out  1590,  but  it  would  be  remarkable  if  he 
did  not  know  him  years  before.  In  sonnet  104  the 
poet  says  : 

"  Three  winters  cold 
Have  from  the  forests  shook  three  summers'  pride, 
Three  beauteous  springs  to  yellow  autiamu  turned 

In  process  of  the  seasons  have  I  seen, 
Three  April  perfumes  in  three  hot  Junes  burned, 
Since  first  I  saw  you  fresh,  which  yet  are  green." 

Let  us  suppose  that  Bacon  began  to  cultivate  the 
Eai'l's  friendship  in  1590.  He  was  then  twenty-two 
years  old  ;  three  years  earlier,  when  Bacon  first  saw 
him,  the  Earl  was  "  fresh  ;"  now  he  is  "  yet  green."* 

Robert  Devereux,  the  second  Earl  of  Essex,  was 
born  Nov.  10,   1567,   and  was  beheaded   for  treason 


*A  letter  from  Bacon  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  asking  for  his 
furtherance  In  some  suit  which  the  Earl  of  Essex  had  moved  in 
his  behalf,  has  recently  been  found,  written  in  1588.  (^Sped- 
ding's  "  Bacon,"  1878,  i,  50,  note.) 


16  THE    SONNETS    OF    SHAIijSPI^B    ' 

Feb.  25,  1()01.  He  succeeded  to  the  title  at  ten 
years  of  age.  At  twenty  he  was  appointed  master  of 
the  horse.  At  twenty-one  the  Queen  created  him 
captain-general  of  the  cavalry,  and  conferred  on  him 
the  honor  of  the  garter.  In  the  same  year  an  expe- 
dition was  undertaken  against  Portugal,  and  he  se- 
cretly followed  the  armament.  This  was  without  the 
Queen's  permission,  but  he  was  quickly  reconciled 
with  her  after  his  return,  and  at  once  assumed  a  su- 
perioritj'  over  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  Sir  Charles 
Blount,  rival  competitors  for  royal  favor.  He  was 
challenged  by  Blount  and  wounded  in  the  knee,  and 
the  Queen  is  said  to  have  expressed  her  gratification 
that  some  one  had  taken  him  down,  as  otherwise 
there  would  be  no  ruling  him.  He  was  an  accom- 
plished scholar  and  patron  of  literature.  He  expected 
a  monument  to  Spenser  and  gave  an  estate  to  Bacon. 
But  we  have  omitted  one  strildng  characteristic 
which  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  question  of 
his  identity  with  "  Mr.  W.  H."  The  young  Earl  of 
Essex  was  a  remarkably  handsome  man.  Now  the 
beauty  of  the  person  addressed  in  the  "•  Sonnets  "  is 
a  constantly  recurring  theme,  and  the  burden  of  the 
poem  is  an  appeal  to  the  beloved  and  beautiful  young- 
man  to  marry.     It  begins  thus  : 

"From  fairest  creature.s  we  desire  increase, 
That  thereby  beauty's  rose  might  never  die." 

The  next  Sonnet  begins  : 

"  When  forty  winters  shall  besiege  thy  bro\v, 
And  dig  deep  trenches  in  thy  beauty's  field, 
Thy  youth's  proud  livery,  so  gazed  on  now, 
Will  be  a  tattered  weed  of  small  worth  held." 

The  last  line  of  Sonnet  13  reads : 

"  You  liad  a  father  ;  let  your  sou  say  so." 


WRirrEN    BY    BACON    TO    ESSEX.  17 

The  father  of  Essex  died  in  1576.  In  1590  the 
second  Earl  married  the  widow  of  Sir  Phihp  Sidney,  Es- 
sex being  twenty- two  years  old  and  she  a  little  younger. 
The  marriage  was  secret  to  avoid  the  opposition  of 
Elizabeth.  By  October,  concealment  was  no  longer 
possible,  and  on  the  22d  of  January,  1591,  (not  1592 
as  some  have  it,)  the  first  child  was  born.  ("Earls  of 
Essex,"  1853. ) 

The  mother  of  Essex  was  celebrated  for  her  beaut}^ : 
his  father  was  not  handsome.  (See  portrait  in  "  Earls  of 
Essex.")  The  son's  inheritance  of  his  mother's  features 
is  told  in  the  third  Sonnet : 

"Thou  art  thy  mother's  glass,  and  she  in  thee 
Calls  back  the  lovely  April  of  her  i^rinie  ; 
So  thou  through  windows  of  thine  age  shalt  see, 
Despite  of  wrinkles,  this  thy  golden  time." 

For  further  description  of  the  young  Earl's  beauty, 
take  the  following : 

"  If  I  couUl  write  the  beauty  of  j'our  eyes, 

And  in  fresh  numbers  number  all  your  graces, 
The  age  to  come  would  say,  '  This  jioet  lies ; 

Such  heavenly  touches  ne'er  touched  earthly  faces." 
"  Describe  Adonis,  and  the  counterfeit 
Is  poorly  imitated  after  yoi; ; 
On  Helen's  cheek  all  art  of  beauty  set, 

And  you  in  Grecian  'tires  are  painted  new."  ' 

Essex  having  become  the  special  favorite  of  the 
Queen,  of  course  became  an  object  of  envy  and  slander. 
Mark  now  what  the  poet  sa^'s  : 

"  Gentle  thou  art,  and  therefore  to  be  won ; 

Beauteous  thou  art,  therefore  to  be  assailed." 

"  That  thon  art  blamed  shall  not  be  thy  defect, 
For  slander's  mark  was  ever  yet  the  fair  ; 
The  ornament  of  beauty  is  suspect, 

A  crow  that  flies  in  heaven's  sweetest  air. 


18  THE    SONNETS    OF    SHAKSI'E^E 

A         ' 

So  be  thou  good ;  slauder  dotb  but  approve 
Thy  worth  the  greater,  being  wooed  of  time." 

lu  1590  Bacou  had  acquired* a  reputation  as  an  orator 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  but  was  without  available 
means  of  livelihood  in  keeping  with  his  wants  and 
station.  Up  to  this  time  his  efforts  for  promotion 
were  thwarted  by  the  Queen's  minister,  Lord  Burleigh 
(Cecil,)  who  regarded  him  as  a  dangerous  rival  for  his 
son.  With  the  rise  of  young  Esses  into  royal  favor 
Bacon  turned  to  him  as  a  friend  at  court.  From  1590 
to  1594  the  Earl  tried  in  vain  to  advance  Bacon,  and 
at  last,  when  the  vacant  office  of  x\ttorney  General  was 
filled  by  another.  Esses,  blaming  himself  for  the 
disappointment,  insisted  on  presenting  him  with  an 
estate  worth  £1,800. 

With  these  facts  in  mind,  see  how  perfectly  the  fol- 
lowing lines  fit  the  persons  and  the  time,  1590  : 

"  Let  those  who  are  in  favor  with  their  stars, 
Of  public  honor  and  proud  titles  boast, 
Whilst,  I,  whom  fortune  of  such  triumph  bars, 
Unlocked  for  joy  in  that  I  honor  most." 

f'  71  a  ^  "  When  in  disgrace  with  fortune  and  men's  eyes, 

c-  I  all  alone  beweep  my  outcast  state, 

/  i  And  trouble  deaf  heaven  with  my  bootless  cries, 

And  look  ujjon  myself  and  curse  my  fate, 
Wishing  me  like  to  one  more  rich  in  hope, 

Featured  like  him,  like  him  with  friends  possessed. 
Desiring  this  man's  art  and  that  man's  scope, 

With  what  I  most  enjoy  contented  least ; 
Yet  in  these  thoughts  myself  almost  despising. 
Haply  I  think  on  thee,  and  then  my  state, 
u  %,  Like  to  the  lark  at  break  of  day  arising, 

From  sullen  earth  sings  hymns  at  heaven's  gate ; 
«-       For  thy  sweet  love  remembered  such  wealth  brings 
#T  That  then  I  scorn  to  change  my  state  ^vith  kings." 


WRITTEN    BY    BACON    TO    ESSEX.  19 

^'I  may  not  evermore  acknowledge  thee, 

Lest  my  bewailed  guilt  should  do  thee  shame, 
Nor  thou  with  public  kindness  honor  nie, 
Unless  thou  take  that  honor  from  thy  name  ;• 
But  do  not  so ;  I  love  thee  in  such  sort 
As,  thou  being  mine,  mine  is  thy  good  rejiort. 

"  As  a  deerei)it  father  takes  delight 

To  see  his  active  child  do  deeds  of  j'outh, 
;.  '.■  So  I,  made  lame  by  fortune's  dearest  sj^ite, 

Take  all  my  comfort  of  thy  worth  and  truth. 
-For  whether  beauty,  birth,  or  wealth,  or  wit, 
'  Or  any  of  these  all,  or  all,  or  more. 

Entitled  in  thy  parts  do  crowned  sit, 

I  make  my  love  engrafted  to  this  store. 
So  then  I  am  not  lame,  poor,  nor  despised. 

Whilst  that  this  shadow  doth  such  substance  give 
That  I  in  thy  abundance  am  sufficed, 
'       And  by  a  part  of  all  thy  glory  live." 

In  1590  Sliaksper  was^patt  ^wser^of  a  theater. 
In  1590  Bacon  obtained  his  first  show  of  favor  from 
the  court :  he  became  Queen's  counsel  extraordinary, 
but  the  office  was  without  emolument.  At  this  time 
plays  for  the  theater  were  written  and  rewritten  again 
and  again  to  meet  the  demand.  Young  lawyers  and 
poets  produced  them  rapidl}'.  Each  theatrical  company 
kept  from  one  to  four  poets  in  its  pay  (Amer.  Cyc.) 
Shaks2)er ;  appeared  to  be  ready  to  father  anything 
that  promised  success,  and  thei-e  are  at  least  six  plays 
published  under  his  name  or  initials  which  most 
critics  say  are  not  his,  nor  have  they  ever  appeared  in 
the  genuine  canon.  In  1591  a  poem  by  Spenser  was 
published  containing  these  lines  : 

"  And  he,  the  man  whom  Nature's  self  has  made 
To  mock  herself  and  ti'uth  to  imitate. 
With  kindly  counter  under  mimic  shade, 
Our  pleasant  Willy,  ah,  is  dead  of  late  : 


20  TlIK    SONNETS    OF    SHAISpI^K 

With  wiioiii  all  joy  und  jolly  merriment 
Is  also  deaded  and  in  dolor  drent."         y  ■    li-O/ 

From  1500  until  Sliakspei  ,  retired  from  .toe- ststge,  ' 
how  could  it  be  said  that  lie  Avas  "  poor,"  bewailing 
his  ■•  outcast  state  "  and  "  cursing-  his  fate  ?"  But  it  is 
certain  that  Bacon's  condition  answered  j)recisely  to 
that  description  up  to  November,  1594,  when  Essex 
gave  him  an  estate  worth  £1,800 ;  aye,  even  until 
1G04,  when  King  James  granted  him  a  pension  of 
£60  ;  if  not  even  up  to  1607. 

Mark  now  the  modesty  of  the  poet  in  1590  : 
"  If  thou  survive  my  well  contented  day, 

When  that  churl  Death  with  bones  my  dust  shall  cover, 
And  shalt  by  fortune  once  more  resurvey 

These  poor  rude  lines  of  thy  deceased  lover, 
Compare  them  with  the  bettering  of  the  time, 

And  though  they  be  outstripp'd  by  every  pen, 
Reserve  them  for  thj^  love,  not  for  their  rhyme. 
Exceeded  by  the  height  of  happier  men." 

"  My  name  be  buried  where  my  body  is, 

And  live  no  more  to  shame  nor  me  nor  you, 
For  I  am  shamed  by  that  which  I  bring  forth, 
And  so  should  you,  to  love  things  nothing  worth." 

We  have  already  quoted  a  verse  from  Spenser  in 
praise  of  "  Will}^"  first  published  in  1591  ;  we  now 
adduce  a  passage  from  one  of  "  Willy "  Bacon's 
poems  first  published  in  15'.)9  in  praise  of  Spenser  : 

"  Dowland  to  thee  is  dear,  whose  heavenly  touch 
Upon  the  lute  doth  ravish  hiiman  sense  ; 
Spenser  to  me,  whose  deep  conceit  is  such 
As,  passing  all  conceit,  needs  no  defense." 

This  verse  is  in  "  The  Passionate  Pilgrim,"  the  first 
two  numbers  of  which  are  Sonnets  138  and  144  with 
slight  variations.     John  Dowland,  a  musician,  was  born 


WRITTEN    BY    BACON    TO    ESSEX.  21 

in  1562  and  died  1625.     Spenser  was  eight  years  older 
than  Bacon. 

But  coupled  with  this  modesty  of  the  author  of  the 
"Sonnets,"  note  how  he  praises  his  friend  and  how 
famous  that  friend  appears  at  the  time : 

"  Oh,  how  I  faint  when  I  of  you  do  write, 

Knowing  a  better  spirit  cloth  use  your  name, 
,  *"f  And  in  the  jjraise  thereof  spends  all  his  might, 
"    .    •         To  make  me  tongue-tied,  speaking  of  your  fame. 

But  since  your  worth,  wide  as  the  ocean  is, 
;  ■  ■  •         The  humble  as  the  iiroudest  sail  doth  bear, 
^   "      My  saucy  bark,  inferior  far  to  his, 

•  On  your  broad  main  doth  wilfully  appear ; 
Your  shallowest  help  will  hold  me  up  afloat. 
Whilst  he  upon  j^our  soundless  deep  doth  ride  ; 
^  Or  being  wrecked,  I  am  a  worthless  boat, 

/  He  of  tall  building  and  of  goodly  pride  ; 

Then  if  he  thrive  and  I  be  cast  away, 
The  worst  was  this  :   my  love  was  my  decay." 

The  other  superior  (?)  poet  referred  to  is  undoubt- 
edly Spenser,  among  whose  "  Sonnets,  addressed  by 
the  author  to  his  friends  and  patrons,"  in  January,  1590, 
is  one  "  To  the  most  honorable  and  excellent  Lord  the 
Earl  of  Essex,  great  master  of  the  horse  to  her  high- 
ness, and  knight  of  the  noble  order  of  the  garter,  etc." 
Essex  became  master  of  the  horse  in  1587,  and  knight 
of  the  garter  in  158<S. 

We  proceed  with  the  quotations  from  the  Shak- 
sperian  Sonnets  : 

"  Or  I  shall  live  your  epitaph  to  make, 

Or  you  survive  when  I  in  earth  am  rotten. 
From  hence  your  memory  dei^th  cannot  take,  P^  a  ^ 

Although  in  me  each  part  will  be  forgotten.  <■  i 

Your  name  from  hence  immortal  life  shall  have,  S 

Though,  I  once  gone,  to  all  the  world  must  die  ; 
The  earth  can  yield  me  l^ut  a  common  grave,  A'<v  t  t-v, 

When  you  ontombtd  in  men's  eyes  shall  lie.  P^ 


22  THE    SONNETS    OF    SHAlfepMiE 

Your  mouiiment  shall  be  my  gentle  verse, 
C  0  Which  eyes  not  yet  created  shall  o'er-read, 

>>     fe  ft    And  tongues  to  be  yonr  Jieing  shall  rehearse 

When  all  the  breathers  of  this  world  are  dead  ; 
C  You  shall  still  live — such  virtue  hath  my  pen — 

0  T,    Where  breath  most  breathes,  even  in  the  mouths  of  men. " 

From  Sonnet  42  it  appears  that  the  young  Earl  had 
won  the  heart  of  the  widow  Sidney : 

"  That  thou  hast  her,  it  is  not  all  my  grief. 

And  yet  it  may  be  said  I  loved  her  dearly  ; 
That  she  hath  thee,  is  of  my  wailing  chief, 

A  loss  in  love  that  touches  me  more  nearly. 
Loving  offenders !  thus  I  will  excuse  ye  : 

Thou  dost  love  her,  because  thou  know'st  I  love  her, 
And  for  my  sake  even  so  doth  she  abuse  me, 

Suffei-ing  my  friend  for  my  sake  to  approve  her. 
If  I  lose  thee,  my  loss  is  my  love's  gain, 

And  losing  her,  vay  friend  hath  found  that  loss  : 
Both  find  each  other,  and  I  lose  both  twain. 

And  both  for  my  sake  lay  me  on  this  cross  : 
But  here's  the  joy  :  my  friend  and  I  are  one  ; 
Sweet  flattery  I  then  she  loves  but  me  alone." 

The  second  part  of  the  "  Sonnets,''  after  12G,  is  ad- 
di'essed  to  the  EarFs  bethrothed ;  we  quote  Sonnet  134 : 
"  So  now  I  have  confessed  that  he  is  thine. 
And  I  myself  am  mortgaged  to  thy  will. 
Myself  I'll  forfeit,  so  that  other  mine 

Thou  wilt  restore,  to  be  my  comfort  still; 
But  thou  wilt  not,  nor  he  will  not  be  free. 

For  thou  art  covetous  and  he  is  kind  : 
He  learned  but  surety-like  to  write  for  me, 

Under  that  bond  that  him  as  fast  doth  bind. 
The  statute  of  thy  beauty  thou  wilt  take. 

Thou  usurer  that  put'st  forth  all  to  use. 
And  sue  a  friend  came  debtor  for  mj'  sake  ; 
So  him  I  lose  through  my  unkind  abuse. 
Him  have  I  lost :  thou  hast  both  him  and  me» 
He  pays  the  whole,  and  yet  am  I  not  free." 


WRITTEN    BY    BACOX    TO    ESSEX.  23 

Incidentally  it  may  be  noted  how  familiar  the  writer 
of  the  above  lines  must  have  been  with  the  practice  of 
law.  ShakfepCTe's  legal  knowledge  has  amazed  the 
lawyers. 

The  nest  Sonnet  introduces  the  name  of  "  Will," 
and  puns  upon  it  profusely : 

"  Whoever  bath  her  wish  thou  hast  th)'  Will, 
;  "^  And    Will    to  boot,   and    Will  in  overplus ; 

More  than  enough  am  I  that  vex  thee  still, 
To  thy  sweet  will  making  addition  thus, 
Wilt  thou  whose  will  is  large  and  spacious, 

Not  once  vouchsafe  to  hide  mj'  will  in  thine  ? 
Shall  will  in  others  seem  right  gracious. 

And  in  my  will  no  fair  acceptance  shine  ? 
The  sea,  all  water,  yet  receives  rain  still, 
f  And  in  abundance  addeth  to  his  store  : 

/         So  thou  being  rich  in  Will  add  to  thy  Will 

One  will  of  mine,  to  make  thy  large  Will  more. 
Let  no  un^tind,  no  fair  beseechers  kill ; 
Think  all  but  one,  and  me  in  that  one  Will." 

[o\v  preposterous  to  believe  that  a  common-place 
^ciekor,  with  a  wife  and  children,  addressed  such 
sentiments  to  the  bride  of  his  dearest  friend  !  At  no 
time  do  the  sentiments  or  circumstances  of  the  poem 
fit  the  person  of  the  actor,  of  whom  the  dying  and  dis- 
sipated playwright,  Greene,  wrote  in  1592  : 

"  There  is  an  ujistart  crow  beautified  with  our  feathers  that 
with  his  Tygers  heart,  wrapt  in  a  player's  hide,  supposes  he  is 
as  well  able  to  bumbast  out  a  blank  verse  as  the  best  of  you  ; 
and  being  an  absolute  Johannes  factotum,  is,  in  his  owuc  con- 
ceyt,  the  onelj'  Shake-scene  in  a  countrie." 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  frequent  evidence  appears 
that  Bacon,  "up  to  the  time  he  was  made  Attorney- 
General  in  1013,  was  constantly  engaged  in  secret 
literary  work.     But  not  so  secret  as  to  Ijo  unknown 


24  THE    SONNETS    OF    SHAI^PEKE 

to  a  circle  of  friends  aud  perchance  a  few  enemies  ;  for, 
in  1599,  when  he  interceded  with  the  Queen  for  his 
dear  friend  Essex,  then  under  arrest  on  account  of  a 
treasonable  pamphlet  being  dedicated  to  him,  her 
Majesty  flung  at  Bacon  "  a  matter  which  grew  from 
him,  but  went  after  about  in  others'  names,"  being  in 
fact  the  play  of  "  llichard  II,"  which,  in  that  and  the 
preceding  year,  had  a  great  run  on  the  stage,  and  had 
gone  through  two  editions,  but,  for  jH-udential  reasons, 
with  the  scene  containing  the  deposition  of  the  king 
left  out. 

But  even  in  the  "  Sonnets  "  the  fact  appears    that 
the  author  has  been  writing  for  the  stage : 
"  Alas,  'tis  true  I  have  gone  here  aud  there, 
And  made  myself  a  motley  to  the  view, 
Gored  mine  own  thoughts,  sold  cheajD  what  is  most  dear, 

Made  old  offenses  of  affections  new  ; 
Most  true  it  is  that  I  have  looked  on  truth 

Askance  and  strangely  ;  but  by  all  above, 
These  blenches  gave  my  heart  another  youth, 
And  worse  essays  proved  thee  my  best  of  love." 

"  0,  for  my  sake  do  you  with  Fortune  chide. 

The  guilty  goddess  of  my  harmful  deeds. 
That  did  not  better  for  my  life  provide 

Than  public  means  which  public  manners  breeds. 
Thence  comes  it  that  mj'  name  receives  a  brand. 

And  almost  thence  my  nature  is  subdued 
To  what  it  works  in,  like  the  dyer's  hand  : 

Pity  me  then  and  wish  I  were  renewed." 

Here  is  not  only  a  private  confession  of  being  com- 
pelled to  produce  plays  for  subsistence,  but  a  sorrow- 
ful acknowledgment  that  thereby  his  "name  receives 
a  brand." 

Yet  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  Bacon  was  pub- 
licly known  at  any  time  as  a  play  writer.     His  first 


WRITTEN    BY    BACON    TO    ESSEX.  25 

publication,  the  "  Essays,"  was  iii  151)7,  and  Sliali«- 
spJi-e's  name  first  appeared  on  the  title  page  of  a 
Play  in  1598,  by  which  time  nearly  half  of  the  Plays 
had  been  written  or  sketched,  and  six  had  been  printed, 
all  without  the  author's  name.  And  when  the  first 
coJlection  was  published  in  the  "  Folio  "  of  1623,  (seven 
years  after  Shaksper.'s  death,)  it  included  some  Plays 
nevfer  before  heard  of,  and  eighteen  never  before 
printed. 

Jjord  Coke,  who  was  Bacon's  most  jealous  rival 
and  adversary,  seems  never  to  have  suspected  him  of 
play  writing.  Nor  did  the  watchful  Puritanic  mother 
of  the  two  bachelors  of  Gray's  Inn  ever  dream  that 
her  studious  younger  son  was  engaged  in  such  sinful 
work 

In  Sonnet  76  the  writer  deplores  his  want  of  varietv 
of  style,  and  fears  that  this  fault  will  almost  disclose 
his  secret  authorship  : 

"  Wh}'  is  my  verse  so  barren  of  new  pride, 

So  fur  from  variaLiou  or  quick  chauge  ? 

Why  with  the  time  do  I  uot  glauce  aside, 

To  uew-foiiud  methods  and  to  compounds  strange  ? 
Why  write  I  still  all  one,  ever  the  same, 
And  keep  invention  in  a  noted  weed,  ■ 
That  every  word  doth  almost  tell  my  name, 

Showing  their  birth  and  where  they  did  proceed  ?" 

Bacon  having  begun  to  produce  plays  for  Hhiikt 
eperc^s  theater  before  1590,  the  authorship  of  which 
was  afterward  assumed  by  the  actor  and  proprietor, 
it  became  necessary  also  to  avoid  being  publicly  known 
as  a  writer  of  sonnets.  Therefore,  in  view  of  the  circu- 
lation and  ultimate  publication  of  this  poem,  he  face- 
tiously disguised  the  identity  of  the  writer  by  calling 
himself    "Will."     Three    vears    later    lie    dedicated    a 


26  THE    SONNETS    OF    SIIAKSFE^E 

published  poem  to  his  young  friend  Southampton 
under  the  name  of  "  WilUam  Shakespeare,"  and  again 
another  in  1504.  But  the  "Sonnets"  were  not  pub- 
lished until  1601),  wh(;n  Essex  had  been  dead  eight 
years,  and  his  widow  had  been  married  six  years  to  a 
third  husband.  It  would  ne-ver  do  for  the  Solicitor- 
General  to  be  known  as  the  author  of  such  a  poem ; 
so  when  it  came  out  in  print  it  was  dedicated  to  "  Mr. 
W.  H."  by  "T.  T.,"  and  no  one  until  a  few  years  ago 
ever  seems  to  have  suspected  that  Bacon  wrote  the 
poem,  nor,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  has  any  one  ever 
suspected  until  July  31,  1883,  that  •'  W.  H."  was  the 
accomplished  and  famous  Earl  of  Essex. 

The  young  widow  Sidney  was  the  only  daughter  of 
the  Queen's  principal  secretary.  Sir  Francis  Walsing- 
ham,  for  whom  Bacon  drafted  an  important  state  paper 
in  1588  on  the  conduct  of  the  government  toward 
Papists  and  Dissenters.  And  that  Bacon  was  intimate 
with  the  Secretary's  daughter,  aye,  even  one  of  her 
lovers,  aj)pears  from  many  of  the  Sonnets  addressed 
to  her.  He  describes  her  playing  on  the  harpsichord, 
envies  the  keys  "  that  nimbly  leap  to  kiss  her  hand," 
and  says : 

"  Since  saucy  jacks  so  happy  are  iu  this, 
Give  them  thy  fingers,  me  thy  lips  to  kiss." 

And  from  other  passages  it  is  quite  evident  that  he 
had  often  kissed  her. 

No  fact  has  been  found  incompatible  with  Bacon's 
authorship   of    the    "  Sonnets."      The  following   line 
might  seem  to  indicate  a  writer  past  the  age  of  29 : 
"  Although  she  knows  my  days  are  past  the  best." 

But  in  1599,  when  Shaksper'  was  only  35,  this  very 
verse  was  published  as  his  in  the  "Passionate  Pil- 
grim," where  Somiet  138  appears  as  number  one. 


WRITTEN    BY    BACON    TO    ESSEX.  27 

But  again,  we  have  a  letter  written  in  1592  by 
Bacon  to  his  uncle,  Lord  Treasurer  Burleigh,  in  which 
he  says : 

"  I  wax  somewhat  ancient :  one  and  thirty  years  is  a  great 
deal  of  sand  in  the  hour-glass." 

At  the  age  of  31  he  thinks  himself  "somewhat 
ancient ;"  two  years  earlier  he  apprehends  that  forty 
winf^rs  will  entirely  deface  the  youthful  Earl's  beauty  ; 
and  to  the  lovely  young  widow  he  says  :  "  My  days 
are  past  the  best." 

This  misconcejition  therefore,  whether  pretended  or 
real,  becomes  a  strong  proof  of  Bacon's  authorship. 

It  has  been  boldly  alleged  by  some  that  Bacon  was 
no  poet.  Such,  however,  was  not  the  judgment  of 
hiiS  biographer,  the  late  James  Spedding.  Before  he 
could  have  heard  it  claimed  that  Shaksper  j  did  not 
write  the  plaj^s  he  said  that  Bacon  might  have  taken 
the  highest  rank  as  a  poet.  And  that  judgment  was 
based  upon  the  versification  of  a  few  Psalms  by  the 
old  man  on  a  sick  bed.  Since  1867  the  substantial 
proofs  of  Bacon's  secret  authorship  have  been  ad- 
duced. Aside  from  innumerable  parallels  in  the 
works  of  Bacon  and  Shakspere  there  is  much  external 
evidence.     For  example: 

We  know  that  Bacon  wrote  Sonnets  to  Queen 
Elizabeth  and  excused  himself  by  saying :  "  I  profess 
not  to  be  a  poet.'' 

We  know  that  he  composed  Masques  anonymously 
before  Shak^pweK  name  appeared  as  a  play  writer,  and 
that  those  Masques  were  essentially  poetical  compo- 
sitions, in  the  nature  of  plays,  and  sometimes  con- 
tained verses  in  rhyme  equal  in  merit  to  the  average 
of  Shal&pe^'e's. 


28  THK    SONNETS    UF    SHAKSPJ^RE. 

lu  oue  of  those  Masques  a  speaker  is  made  to  say  : 
'•The  inouuments  of  wit  survive  the  monuments  of 
power :  the  verses  of  the  poet  endure  without  a  syl- 
lable lost,  while  states  and  empires  pass  many  periods." 
Two  years  later,  in  1596,  the  composer  of  that  speech, 
writiug  to  Sir  Pulke  Greville  on  his  studies,  said : 
"  For  poets  I  can  commend  none,  being  resolved  to  be 
ever  a  stranger  to  them."  Greville  (1554-1628)  was  a 
poet,  and  wrote  the  life  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney. 

In  1603  Bacon  wrote  a  private  letter  to  the  poet 
John  Da  vies,  begging  him  to  speak  a  good  word  for 
the  writer  to  the  incoming  King  James  I.,  and  closing 
with  these  words :  "  So,  desiring  you  to  be  good  to 
eoiicealed j^oets,  I  continue." 

Bacon's  most  intimate  friend,  Toby  Matthew,  in  a 
letter  with  cancelled  date,  but  as  late  as  1605,  acknowl- 
edged the  receipt  of  some  work  by  Bacon,  and  added 
this  postscript : 

"I  will  uot  return  you  weight  for  weight,  but  Measure  for 
Measure.'''' 

"  Mesur  for  Mesur,"    by  "  Shaxberd," '^as  played  ^ 
before  King  James,  at  Whitehall,  December  26,  1604.  vJL 

Again,  about  the  time  of  the  publication  of  the 
Shakespe^-e  Folio,  1623,  Matthew  acknowledged  in  a 
letter  without  date,  the  receipt  of  a  '•  great  and  noble 
favor,"  and  added  the  following  : 

"P.  S. — The  most  prodigious  .wit  that  ever  I  knew,  of  my 
nation  and  of  this  side  of  the  sea,  is  of  your  Lordshijj's  name, 
though  he  be  known  by  another." 


BACO]Sr 


IDENTIFIED    AS 


THE  CONCEALED  POET  IGNOTO. 

A.  D.  1589-1600. 


Spenser's  "  Faery  Queen  "  was  begun  in  1582,  and 
published  in  1590.  The  Dedication  to  Sir  Walter  Ra- 
leigh is  dated  23  January,  1589  (i.  e.,  1590.)  Raleigh 
in  return  praised  the  poem  in  two  Sonnets.  These, 
together  with  five  other  versified  encomiums  by  "Hoby- 
noll "  (Gabriel  Harvey,)  "  R.  S.,"  "  H.  B.,"  -  W.  L.," 
and  "  Ignoto,"  are  prefixed  to  Spenser's  work. 

I)r'1599  "The  Passionate  Pilgrim,"  a  collection  of 
twenty-one  sonnets,  songs,  etc.,  was  published  with  the 
name  of  W.  Shalcspe^-e  on  the  title  page.  The  author- 
ship of  several  of  the  pieces  is  disputed. 

In  regard  to  No.  xviii,  "  My  flocks  feed  not,"  Mr. 
HalUwell-Phillipps,  says : 

"  There  is  a  somewhat  brief  version  of  this  song  in  the  collec- 
tion of  Madrigals,  etc.,  by  Thomas  Werlkes  ir)l>7,  this  jjerson 
being  the  composer  of  the  music,  but  not  necessarily  the  autlujr 
of  the  words.  A  copy  of  it  as  it  is  seen  in  the  Passionate  Pilgrim 
also  occurs  in  England's  Helicon,  KlOO,  entitled  '  The  Unkuowne 
Sheepheards  Complaint,'  and  is  there  subscribed  Ig/toto." 

Again,  in  regard  to  No.  xx,  '•  Live  with  me  and  be 
my  love,"  the  same  author,  says : 

"The  first  of  these  very  i)retty  songs  is  incouiplcti',  and  the 
second,  called  '  Love's  answer,'  still  more  so.  In  England's 
Helicon,  1600,  the  former  is  given  to  Marlowe,  the  latter  to  fg- 
noto  ;  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Christopher  Mar- 


30  BACON    IDENTIFIED 

lowe  wrote  tbe  song,  uucl  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  the  nymph's 
reply  :  for  so  we  are  positively  assured  by  Isaac  Walton,  who  has 
inserted  them  both  in  his  Complete  Angler  under  the  character 
of  'that  smooth  song  which  was  made  by  Kit  Marlowe,  now  at 
least  fifty  years  ago  ;  and  an  answer  to  it  which  was  made  by 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  in  his  younger  days  : — old  fashioned  poetry 
hut  choicely  good.'  Both  these  songs  were  exceedingly  jiopular 
and  are  afterwards  found  in  the  street  ballads.  The  first  is 
quoted  in  the  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor." 

Again,  in  regard  to  No.  xxi,  "  As  it  fell  upon  a  day," 
Mr.  Halliwell-Phillipps,  says  : 

"This  charming  idyl  occurs,  with  the  absence  of  two  lines, 
amongst  the  Poems  in  Divers  Humours  appended  to  Barnfield's 
Encomiou  of  Lady  Pecunia,  in  1598,  and  the  first  twenty-six 
lines  with  the  addition  of  two  new  ones  are  found  in  England's 
Helicon,  1600.  This  latter  version  follows  in  that  work  No. 
xviii  of  this  list,  ["  My  flocks  feed  not,"]  is  also  subscribed 
Ignoto,  and  is  headed:  'Another  of  the  same  Sheepheards.' 
The  probability  is  that  the  copies  of  these  little  poems,  as  given 
in  the  Helicon,  were  taken  from  a  Common  Place  book  in  which 
the  names  of  the  authors  were  not  recorded  ;  the  two  supple- 
mentary lines  just  noticed  having  the  appearance  of  being  an 
-unauthorized  couplet  improvised  for  the  sake  of  giving  a  neater 
finish  to  the  abridgment." 

We  will  now  reproduce  the  aforesaid  poems  from 
"  England's  Helicon,"  second  edition,  1614.  A  brief 
version  of  the  first  song.  No.  xviii  of  "  The  Passionate 
Pilgrim,"  says  Halliwell-Phillipps,  appeared  in  1597. 

The  unknoir/i  Shej^hcrd's  Complaint. 
My  flocks  feed  not,  my  ewes  breed  not, 

My  rams  sjoeed  not,  all  is  amiss  ; 
Love  is  denying,  Faith  is  defying  ; 

Hearts  ren[e]ging,  causer  of  this. 
All  my  merry  jigs  are  quite  forgot, 

And  my  lady's  love  is  lost,  God  wot : 
Where  her  faith  was  firmly  fixed  in  love, 

There  a  nay  is  placed  without  remove. 


AS  THE  CONCEALED  POET  IGNOTO,       31 

One  silly  cross  wrought  all  my  loss : 
O  frowning  fortune,  cursed  fickle  Dame, 
For  now  I  see,  inconstancy 
More  in  women  than  in  men  remain. 
In-  black  mourn  I,  all  fears  scorn  I. 

Love  hath  forlorn  me,  living  in  thrall : 
Heart  is  bleeding,  all  helj]  needing, 
O  cruel  speeding,  fraughted  with  gall. 
_,     My  shepherd's  pipe  can  sound  no  deal, 
-    ■>         My  wether's  bell  rings  doleful  knell. 
My  curtail  dog  that  wont  to  have  played, 
Plays  not  at  all,  but  seems  afraid. 
With  sighs  so  deep,  procure  to  weep. 
In  howling-wise  to  see  my  doleful  plight. 
How  sighs  resound,  through  heartless  ground. 
Like  a  thousand  vanquished  men  in  blood}'  fight. 

Clear  wells  spring  not,  sweet  birds  sing  not, 
/         Green  plants  bring  not  forth  their  dye  ; 
Herds  stand  weeping — flocks  all  sleeping. 

Nymphs  back  peeping  fearfully. 
All  oiir  i^leasures  known  to  us  poor  swains, 

All  our  merry  meeting  on  the  plains, 

All  our  evening  sports  from  us  are  fled. 

All  our  love  is  lost,  for  love  is  dead. 

Farewell  sweet  lass,  thy  like  ne'er  was, 

For  sweet  content,  the  cause  of  all  my  moan : 

Poor  Corydon  must  live  alone, 

Other  hel2)  for  him,  I  see  that  there  is  none. 

Finis.  Ignoto. 

The  variations  from  the  version  of  1599  are  few, 
the  only  important  one  being  "ren[e]ging'*  for  "reny- 
ing."  The  latter  has  no  meaning  ;  the  former  is  used 
twice  in  the  plays. 

The  only  question  in  regard  to  the  autliorship  of 
this  poem  is,  whether  Shal^pet'e  or  "  Ignoto  "  wrote  it. 

The  next  poem  printed  in  the  "  Helicon  "  is  a  part 
of  No.  xxi  of  the  "Passionate  Pil-rrim." 


32  BACON    IDENTIFIED 

Another  of  the  Same  Shepherds. 
As  it  fell  upon  a  day 
In  the  merry  month  of  May, 
Sitting  in  a  pleasant  shade 
"Which  a  grove  of  myrtles  made  ; 
Beasts  did  leap,  and  birds  did  sing. 
Trees  did  grow  and  plants  did  spring ; 
Everything  did  banish  moan, 
Save  the  nightingale  alone. 
She,  poor  bird,  as  all  forlorn, 
Lean'd  her  breast  against  a  thorn ; 
And  there  sung  the  dolefull'st  ditty, 
That  to  hear  it  was  great  pity. 
Fie,  fie,  fie,  now  would  she  cry ; 
Teru,  teru  !  by  and  by ; 
That  to  hear  her  so  complain 
Scarce  I  could  from  tears  refrain  ; 
For  her  griefs,  so  lively  shown, 
Made  me  think  upon  mine  own. 
Ah  !  thought  I,  thou  mourn'st  in  vain ! 
None  takes  pity  on  thy  pain  : 
Senseless  trees,  they  cannot  hear  thee, 
Ruthless  beasts  they  will  not  cheer  thee  : 
King  Pandion  he  is  dead  ; 
All  thy  friends  are  lapp'd  in  lead ; 
All  thy  fellow  birds  do  sing, 
Careless  of  thy  sorrowing  I 
Even  so,  poor  bird,  like  thee. 
None  alive  will  pity  me. 
Fink.  Ignoto. 

The  last  two  lines,  Mr.  Hailiwell-Phillipps  says,  are 
new  ones  added  to  the  first  twenty-six  in  "  The  Pas- 
sionate Pilgrim.''  Our  own  edition  of  the  latter  has 
those  two  lines,  and  the  only  variation  is  in  the  tenth 
line — "up-till"  for  "against."  There  are  thirty  lines 
more  in  our  edition.  But  we  have  another  version  of 
the  whole,  omitting  the  aforesaid  two  lines  and  a  sub- 
sequent couplet.     This  version,  curiously  enough,  is 


AS    THE    CONCEALKD    POET    lONOTO.  33 

iieaded  '"Address  to  the  Nightiugale,"  aud  is  credited 
to  Richard  Barnfield,  ''about  1610."  (Encj'c.  of  Poetry^ 
I^o.  121.)  In  1598  it  is  said  that  the  first  tweut^'-six 
lines  of  this  idyl  •  appeared  in  an  appendix  to  Barn- 
field's  "Encomium;"  in  1599  it  reappeared  enlarged  to 
twice  the  length  and  was  credited  to  ShakspeJ'e  ;  in 
1600  the  first  twenty-eight  lines  were  republished  in 
"  England's  Helicon  "  and  subscribed  "  Ignoto." 

We  now  transcribe  from  the  '•  Helicon,"  No.  xx  of 
"  The  Passionate  Pilgrim "  much  amended  and  en- 
lai'ged  ; 

The  Passionate  Shepherd  to  his  love. 

Come  live  with  me,  and  be  vay  love, 

And  we  will  all  the  pleasures  prove, 

That  valleys,  groves,  [audi  hills  aud  fields, 
/  Woods,  or  steepie  mountains  yields.* 

And  we  will  sit  upon  the  rocks, 

Seeing^he  shepherds  feed  their  flocks, 

'By  shallow  rivers,  to  whose  falls 

Melodious  birds  sing  madrigals. 

And  I  will  make  thee  beds  of  roses. 

And  a  thousand  fragrant  posies, 

A  cap  of  flowers  and  a  kirtle 

Embroidered  all  with  leaves  of  myrtle. 

A  gown  made  of  the  finest  wool, 

Which  from  our  pretty  lambs  we  pull. 

Fair  lined  slippers  for  the  cold, 

With  buckles  of  the  purest  gold  : 

A  belt  of  straw,  and  ivy  buds 
With  coral  clasps  and  amber  studs. 


*  The  grammar  of  this  verse  is  shocking  both  hero  and  in  tlie 
version  of  \')'.)'.).  A.ud  there  are  considerable  variations  in  the 
two  versions.  In  that  of  !.'>!»'.)  the  fust  word  "  Come  "  is  oiiiittcd, 
without  which  the  song  couM  hardly  be  sung.  Other  slight 
defects  of  measure  appear  in  both.  But  the  editor  of  Marlowe's 
Works  has  carefully  corrected  the  gr.immar  and  the  measure. 


34  BACON    inKNTIFIED 

And  if  these  pleasures  may  thee  move, 
Come  live  with  me  ami  be  my  love. 
The  shei^herd  swains  shall  dance  and  sing 
For  thy  delights  each  May-morning  ; 
If  these  delights  thy  mind  may  move, 
Then  live  with  me  and  be  my  love. 

Finis.  Chr.  Marlowe. 

Here  we  have  Marlowe  credited  with  this  song  in 
1600,  seven  years  after  his  death.  Is  there  any  other 
evidence  that  he  wrote  it  ?  A  single  line  at  the  close  of 
a  ditty  in  his  "  Jew  of  Malta  "  parallels  with  the  first 
line  of  this,  except  the  first  word  : 

"  Shall  live  with  me  and  be  my  love." 
The  song,  with  many  verbal  amendments,  and  omit- 
ting the  last  stanza,  is  inserted  in  his  "  Works,"  1826. 
In  the  "  jMerry  Wives  of  Windsor"  act    iii,  scene  1, 
Sir  Hugh  Evans  sings  the  following  four  lines : 

' '  To  shallow  rivers,  to  whose  falls 
Melodious  birds  sing  madrigals  ; 
There  we  will  make  our  peds  of  roses, 
And  a  thousand  fragrant  posies." 

This  play  was  written  in  the  latter  j)art  of  1599.  In 
the  earliest  form  of  it  Sir  Hugh  transposes  and  varies 
the  lines  thus : 

"  And  then  she  made  him  beds  of  roses, 
And  a  thousand  fragrant  posies." 

Then  after  three  lines  of  incoherent  speech  : 
"  To  shallow  rivers,  and  to  falls 
Melodious  birds  sing  madrigals." 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  song  was  familiar  to  the 
public  in  1599- 

We  now  add  from  the  "  Helicon "  the  rest  of  No. 
xs  of  "The  Passionate  Pilgrim,"  enlarged  from  one 
stanza  to  six : 


AS    THE    CONCEALED    POET    IGNOTO.  35 

The  Nymph's  reply  to  the  Shepherd. 

If  all  the  world  and  love  were  j'ouug, 

And  truth  in  every  shepherd's  tongue, 

These  pretty  pleasures  might  me  move, 

To  live  with  thee,  and  be  thy  love. 

Time  drives  the  flocks  from  field  to  fold, 

When  rivers  rage,  and  rocks  grow  cold  : 

And  Philomel  becometh  dumb  : 
-  **>  The  rest  complain  of  cares  to  come. 

The  flowers  do  fade,  and  wanton  fields 

To  wayward  Winter  reckoning  yields  ; 

A  honey  tongue,  a  heart  of  gall, 

Is  fancy's  Spring,  biat  sorrow's  fall. 

Thy  gowns,  thy  shoes,  thj'  beds  of  roses. 

Thy  cap,  thj-  kirtle,  and  thy  posies. 

Soon  break,  soon  wither,  soon  forgotten, 
*  In  folly  ripe,  in  reason  rotten. 

Thy  belt  of  straw,  and  ivy  V>uds, 

Thy  dpral  clasps  and  amber  .studs. 

All  these  in  me  no  means  can  move. 

To  come  to  thee  and  be  thy  love. 

But  could  youth  last,  and  love  still  breed, 
■*  Had  joys  no  date,  nor  age  no  need. 

Then  these  delights  my  mind  might  move. 

To  live  with  thee  and  be  thy  love. 
FiniH.  fgnot'). 

The  editor  of  the  third  edition  of  the  "  HeUcon  " 
1812,  says  in  regard  to  "  Ignoto :" 

"This  signature  appears  to  have  been  gonorally,  though  not 
excluHixely,  subscribed  to  the  pieces  of  Sir  Walter  Kalcigh.  It 
is  also  subscribed  to  one  piece  since  aj)i)ropriatod  to  Slial^sjjt^e, 
[No.  xviii,]  and  to  one  which,  according  to  Ellis,  belongs  to 
Richard  Barnfield  [N6.  xxi.  ]  The  celebrated  answer  to  Mar- 
lowe's, '  Come  live  with  rae,'  here  8nb3cril)ed  Ignoto,  is  given 
expressly  to  Raleigh  by  Isaac  Walton  in  his  '  Complete  Angler,' 
first  publishi'd  in  lf'>.")3." 


30  HACON    IDENTIFIED 

What  could  Walton  know  about  it  fifty  years  after 
iAie  i^ublication  of  the  song  and  answer  as  above  ?  On 
such  worthless  testimony  the  Nymph's  Answer  is- 
credited  to  Kaleigh.  And  we  have  in  the  "Encyclopedia 
of  Poetry,"  1873,  first  the  song  by  Marlowe,  "  about 
1590,"  and  then  the  Nymph's  Reply  by  Raleigh  "  about 
1(510."  Strange  that  the  Nymph  should  wait  about 
tweutj'  years  to  reply,  and  should  theu  repeat  the  lines 
credited  to  Shal^^p^e  in  1599  and  to  "Ignoto"  in 
IGOO  !  The  song  perhaps  existed  before  the  death  of 
Marlowe  in  1593,  but  was  probably  composed  by 
"  Ignoto,"  who  also  wrote  "  The  Nymph's  Reply  "  and 
numerous  other  poetical  pieces  that  were  published 
in  the  "  Helicon  "  in  1600. 

"  Ignoto  "  was  undoubtedly  a  concealed  poet.  Mar- 
lowe, Raleigh  and  Barnfield  were  not.  As  early  as 
January  1590,  if  not  a  little  sooner,  "  Ignoto "  con- 
tributed to  Spenser's  first  publication  of  the  "  Faery 
Queen  "  the  following  lines  : 

"  To  look  upon  a  work  of  rare  devise 

The  which  a  workman  setteth  out  to  view, 
And  not  to  yield  it  the  deserved  2:)rize 

That  unto  such  a  workmanshiji  is  due, 
Doth  either  jsrove  the  judgment  to  be  naught, 
Or  else  doth  show  a  mind  with  envy  fraught. 

"  To  labor  to  commend  a  piece  of  work 

Which  no  man  goes  about  to  discommend, 

Woiild  raise  a  jealous  doubt  that  there  did  lurk 
Some  secret  doubt  whereto  the  jDraise  did  tend  : 

For  when  men  know  the  goodness  of  the  wine 

'Tis  needless  for  the  host  to  have  a  sign. 

"  Thus  then,  to  show  my  judgment  to  be  such 
As  can  discern  of  colors  black  and  white, 
As  als  to  free  my  miud  from  envy's  touch, 
That  never  gives  to  any  man  his  right : 


AS  THE  CONCEALED  POET  IGNOTO.        37 

I  here  prononnce  this  workiuanshiii  is  siicli 
As  that  no  jjen  can  set  it  forth  too  much. 

"  And  thtis  I  hang  a  garland  at  the  door ; 

(Not  for  to  show  the  goodness  of  the  ware  ; 
But  such  hath  been  the  custom  heretofore, 

And  customs  very  hardly  broken  are  ; ) 
And  when  your  taste  shall  tell  you  this  is  true, 
Then  look  you  give  your  host  his  utmost  due." 

.:  In  No.  viii  of  "  The  Passionate  Pilgrim  "  the  writer 

says  : 

"  Dowland  to  thee  is  dear,  whose  heavenly  touch 
Upon  the  lute  doth  ravish  human  sense ; 
Spenser  to  me,  whose  deep  conceit  is  such 
As,  passing  all  conceit,  needs  no  defense." 

Is  not  this  praise  of  Spenser  a  substantial  repetition 
ef  the  sentiments  expressed  by  "'Ignoto"? 
Again,  in  Slial^poj'e's  Sonnet  Ixxx  we  read: 

"  O  how  I  faint  when  I  of  you  do  write, 

Knowing  a  better  npirit  doth  use  your  name, 
And  in  the  praise  thereof  spends  all  his  might, 
„  To  make  me  tongue-tied,  speaking  of  vour  fame  I" 

iip*«^r  i:)raises  Essex  in  one  of  the  Sonnets  pre- 
fixed to  his  "  Faery  Queen,"  wliich  antedates  the  Sou- 
nets  of  Shal^spe^-e. 

Once  more.  In  No.  xviii  of  "  The  Passionate  Pil- 
giim"  we  read: 

"  Poor  Corydon  must  live  alone. 

Other  help  for  him  I  see  that  there  is  none." 
Compare  this  with  the  following  lines  from  Spenser's 
'•  Colin  Clout,"  dedicated  to  Sir  Walter  Kaleigh,  De- 
cember 27,  1501,  and  published  in  1595  : 

"  And  there  is  Corydon,  though  meanly  waged. 
Yet  ablest  wit  of  most  I  know  this  day." 
Was  not  Bacon   the  ablest  wit  of  tliat  time?     Was 


38  BACON    IDENTIFIED 

he  not  a  concealed  poet  ?     Was  he  not  "  Corydon  "  ? 
Was  he  not  "  Ignoto  "  ? 

But  what  evidence  is  there  that  Raleigh  used  that 
signature  1  The  "  Faery  Queen  "  was  pubHcly  dedi- 
cated to  him,  and  in  the  Sonnet  addressed  to  him  as 
•one  of  Spenser's  patrons,  a  forthcoming  poem  by 
Raleigh  is  announced  thus : 

"  Yet,  till  that  thou  thy  poem  wilt  make  known, 

Let  thy  f^r  Cynthia's  praises  be  thus  rudely  shown." 

That  poem  was  known  to  Spenser,  who  in  the 
Dedication  said  he  had  fashioned  his  Queen  "accord- 
ing to  your  [Raleigh's]  own  excellent  conceit  of  Cyn- 
thia," i.  e.,  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Furthermore,  Raleigh  contributed  two  Sonnets  in 
praise  of  Spenser's  "  Faery  Queen ;"  these  he  sub- 
scribed with  his  own  initials.  Did  he  at  the  same  time 
write  another  encomium  and  sign  it  "Ignoto"? 

There  are  sixteen  pieces  in  the  "Helicon"  subscribed 
"Ignoto."  One  of  these,  "The  Nymph's  Reply"  is 
ascribed  to  Raleigh  on  the  testimony  of  Walton  in 
1653 ;  and  two  others  are  believed  by  the  editor  of 
the  third  edition,  1812,  to  belong  to  Raleigh,  because 
in  an  early  coj^y  of  the  same  "  Ignoto "  was  found 
pasted  over  "  W.  R."  Upon  such  flims}^  evidence  the 
modern  editor  infers  that  the  signature  "  Ignoto  "  was 
"generally,  though  not  exclusively,  (his  own  italics,) 
subscribed  to  the  pieces  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh." 

The  next  piece  after  "  The  Nymph's  Reply "  in  the 
"  Helicon  "  is  the  following  by  "  Ignoto  :" 

Another  of  the  same  nature  mnde  since. 
Come  live  with  me  and  be  my  dear, 
And  we  will  revel  all  the  year, 
i_^  In  plains  and  groves,  on  hills  and  dales, 

JS"  'p.  0-  "^       Where  fragrant  air  breeds  sweetest  gales. 


0  -^ 


AS    THE    CONCEALED    POET    IGNOTO.  H9 

There  shall  yon  have  the  beaiitcoias  pine, 
Thejedar,  and  the  sjireading  vine;  ?  i 

And  all  the  woods  to  be  a  screen,  c^      9«  » 

Lest  Phcebns  kiss  my  summer  queen. 

The  seat  for  yonr  disport  shall  be 
Over  some  river  in  a  tree  ; 
Where  silver  sands  and  pebbles  sing 
Eternal  ditties  with  the  Spring. 

There  shall  you  see  the  nymphs  at  play, 
And  how  the  Satyrs  spend  the  day  ; 
The  fishes  gliding  on  the  sands. 
Offering  their  bellies  to  your  hands. 

The  birds,  with  heavenly  tunCd  throats, 
Possess  woods'  echoes  with  sweet  notes  : 
Which  to  yonr  senses  will  impart 
A  music  to  inflame  the  heart. 

Ul)on  the  bare  and  leafless  oak 
The  riny-dove's  wooiugs  will  provoke 
A  colder  blood  than  you  possess, 
To  play  with  me  and  do  no  less. 

In  bowers  of  laurel  trimly  dight, 
We  will  outwear  the  silent  night, 
While  Flora  busy  is  to  spread 
Her  richest  treasure  on  our  bed. 

Ten  thousand  glow-worms  shall  attend, 
And  all  their  sparkling  lights  shall  spend,. 
All  to  adorn  and  beautify 
Your  lodging  with  most  majesty. 

Then  in  mine  arms  will  I  enclose 
Lily's  fair  mixture  with  the  rose : 
Whose  nice  perfections  in  love's  play, 
Sliall  tune  to  me  the  highest  key. 

Thus  as  we  pass  the  welconu'  night 
In  sportful  pleasures  and  delight. 
The  nimble  fairies  on  the  grounds 
Shall  dance  and  sing  melodious  souuds. 


4:0  BACON    IDENTIFIED 

If  tliese  may  serve  for  to  entice 
Your  presence  to  Love's  paradise, 
Then  come  with  me  and  be  my  dear, 
And  we  will  straight  begin  the  year. 
Finis.  Ignoto. 

Who  will  say  that  this  is  not  equal  to  the  first  song 
ascribed  to  Marlowe  ?  What  couplet  iu  that  surpasses 
this  one? 

"  Where  silver  sands  and  pebbles  sing 
Eternal  ditties  with  the  Spring." 

Or  this? 

"  Ten  thousand  glow-worms  shall  attend. 
And  all  their  sparkling  lights  shall  spend." 

For  parallels  with  the  lirst  of  these  couplets  take 
the  following  : 

"  Silver  stream."     Much  Ado,  iii,  1. 
"  Sing  no  more  ditties."     Ihid.,  ii,  1. 
"  Silver  currents."     K.  John,  ii,  1. 
"  The  murmuring  surge 
That  on  the  unnumbered  idle  pebbles  chafes." 

Ibid,  iv,  (j. 

For  a  single  parallel  with  the  second  couplet  take 
this : 

"  Twenty  glow-worms  shall  our  lanterns  be." 

M.  W.  Windsor,  v,  5. 

Similar  parallels  may  be  found  with  other  lines  of 
the  song.  Now  are  we  to  believe  that  Marlowe  wrote 
the  first  song,  and  Raleigh  the  other  two  signed  "Ig- 
noto "?  Is  it  not  far  more  rational  and  consistent  to 
believe  that  all  three  were  written  by  the  same  pen  ? 

Again,  Barnfield  has  two  pieces  in  the  "  Helicon," 
and  the  editor  ascribes  to  him  another  signed  "  Ig- 
noto " — No.  xsi,  "As  it  fell  upon  a  day" — while  Alli- 
bone,  in  his  Dictionary  of  Authors,  makes  him  the 


AS  THE  CONCEALKD  POET  IGXOTO.        4:1 

author  not  only  of  xxi,  but  of  xx — "  Come  live  with 
me  and  be  my  love  " — and  says  that  Ealeigh's  author- 
ship of  "  The  Nymph's  Reply  "  is  questioned. 

Thus  Marlowe  is  robbed  of  the  only  piece  ascribed 
to  him  in  the  '•  Helicon,"  and  Raleigh  is  left  out  of  it 
entirely,  unless  he  Avrote  some  other  poem  signed  "Ig- 
jioto." 

And  by  the  way.  poor  neglected  Shal^sp^j'e  has  but 
a  single  specimen  there — "  On  a  day,  alack  a  day  " — 
taken  from  ''Love's  Labor  Lost." 

But  the  confusion  about  *'  Ignoto  "  is  still  more  con- 
founded. On  page  112  of  the  ''Helicon"  is  a  song 
entitled  ''  The  Shepherd's  Dump,"  subscribed  "  S.  E. 
D,"  supposed  to  mean  Sir  Edward  Dyer,  and  on  page 
/224  the  same  identical  song  reappears  entitled  "Thir- 
sis,  the  Shepherd,  to  his  pipe,"  and  signed  ''  Ignoto." 
The  editor  "of  1812  supposes  it  was  reprinted  to  make 
a  few  corrections  in  the  last  stanza  :  but  as  the  verbal 
variations  in  that  stanza  make  it  positively  worse,  it 
is  more  likely  that  the  compiler  did  not  notice  the 
repetition,  but  inadvertently  put  both  in  as  he  found 
them. 

But  even  this  is  not  all.  In  Ellis's  "  Specimens  of 
the  early  English  Poets,"  5th  edition,  1845,  among  the 
pieces  credited  to  Fulke  Greville  (Lord  Brooke)  is  a 
"  Song,"  Mith  these  words  in  bracrkets  : 

"To  be  found  in  'England's  Helicon,'  where  it  is  signed 
Ignoto.^' 

On  turning  to  the  edition  of  lfil4  we  find  that  song 
entitled  "Another,  of  his  Cynthia."  Ifc  is  preceded  by 
two,  evidently  by  the  same  jien,  entitled,  "To  liis 
Flocks,"  and  "  To  his  Love ;"  and  is  followed  by  still 
"Another  to  his  Cynthia."     But  all  these  are  auony- 


42  BACON    IDENTIFIED 

mous  iu  the  edition  of  161-4,  and  the  editor  appends 
to  the  last  one  the  following  remark : 

' '  These  three  [or  four  ?]  ditties  were  taken  out  of  Maister 
Johu  Dowhxncl's  Book  of  Tableture  for  the  Lute.  The  authors' 
names  not  there  set  down,  and  therefore  left  to  their  owners." 

But  it  happens  that  the  four  ditties  are  all  credited 
to  "  Ignoto "  in  the  Table  of  Contents,  prepared  by 
the  other  editor,  so  that  in  the  edition  of  1614  "Ig- 
noto "  has  twenty  pieces,  besides  the  one  assigned  to 
Marlowe. 

With  all  this  confusion  what  are  we  to  believe  in 
regard  to  "Ignoto'"?  Was  he  sometimes  Raleigh, 
sometimes  Barnfield,  sometimes  Dyer,  sometimes  Gre- 
ville,  and  sometimes  Shal^S^l^e^-e,  or  some  one  else  ? 
Or  was  he  a  single  person  who  "  loved  better  to  be 
a  poet  than  to  be  counted  so :"  and  who  affected  to 
hoodwink  the  above-named  Greville  hy  writing  to  him 
in  1596 :  "  For  poets  I  can  commend  none,  being  re- 
solved to  be  ever  a  stranger  to  them'"? 

And  here  let  us  note  a  bit  of  internal  evidence  that 
Bacon  wrote  the  little  poem  in  praise  of  the  "•  Faery 
Queen"  signed  "Ignoto."  One  couplet  of  it  is  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  For  when  men  know  the  goodness  of  the  wine, 
'Tis  needless  for  the  host  to  have  a  sign." 

No.  517  of  Bacon's  "Promus  of  Formularies  and 
Elegancies  "  is  this  : 

"  Good  wine  needs  no  bush." 

The  word  "bush  "  as  applied  to  wine  is  thus  defined 
by  W^ebster : 

"A.  branch  of  ivy  (as  sacred  to  Bacchus)  hung  out  at  vint- 
ners' doors,  or  as  a  tavern  sign ;  hence  a  tavern  sign,  or  the 
tavern  itself." 


AS    THE    CONCEALKD     POi/r    ICrXOTO.  43" 

"  'If  it  be  true  that  good  wine  needs  uo  bush,  'tis  tnie  that 
a  good  play  needs  uo  epilogue.'     Shak.^'     [As  You  Like  It.J 

We  leave  the  reader  to  put  this  and  that  together  ;. 
argument  or  comment  is  superfluous. 

And  now  wliat  ehall  we  say  in  regard  to  Marlowe's 
ostensible  authorship  of  a  popular  song,  which  was 
attributed  to  Shal^sp^e  in  159U  '?  Is  it  not  presumable 
that  "Ignoto,"  who  wrote  the  "Nymph's  Reply,"  and 
followed  it  with  '-Another  of  the  same  nature  made- 
since "'  in  imitation  of  the  song  subscribed  '•  Chr.  'Sliiv- 
,16we" — is  it  not  probable  that  "Ignoto"  ascribed  his 
own  original  song  to  ]\Iarlowe  ? 

Marlowe  was  buried  June  1,  1598.  In  the  same 
year  Shal^spe^-e's  name  first  appeai'ed  in  print  as  an 
a^uthor.  And  now  among  the  startling  revelations 
hitherto  hidden  in  the  Folio  of  1623,  but  made  known 
through  Bacon's  cipher  discovered  by  the  Hon.  Ignatius 
Donnelly,  is  this  sentence  : 

"Ever  since  Marlowe  was  killed  ShalSpc^-e  has  been  my 
mask." 


Another  Poem  by  Bacon  in  1  590. 

The  38d  anniversary  of  Elizabeth's  coronation  was 
celebrated  November  17,  1~)'M.  Sir  Heiny  Lea.  the 
Queen's  champion  and  master  of  the  armory,  who  had 
conducted  the  exercises  from  the  beginning,  ai)i)carcd 
for  the  liist  time,  and,  after  the  customary  i)erfornianc('s, 
resigned  his  office  to  the  Earl  of  Cumberland,  where- 
upon the  celelM-ated  vocalist,  Mr.  Hales,  a  servant  of 
her  Majesty,  pronounced  and  sung  the  following  verses, 
personating  the  aged  man  at  luiiis: 


44  anuthp:b  i-oem  by  bacon. 

"  My  golden  locks  hath  time  to  silver  turned, 
f  •>  9-  'h  (O  Time  ti)0  swift,  and  swiftness  never  ceasing!) 

My  youth  'gainst  age,  and  age  at  youth  hath  spurned, 
t  {.  But  spurned  in  vain  ;  youth  waneth  by  increasing. 

S   b    Beauty  and  strength,  and  youth  flowers  fading  been, 
a  Duty,  faith,  love,  are  roots  and  ever  green. 

"  My  helmet  now  shall  make  a  hive  for  bees, 
And  lovers'  songs  shall  turn  to  holy  psalms ; 
A  man-at-arms  must  now  stand  on  his  knees. 
And  feed  on  prayers  that  ai'e  old  age's  alms. 
C  •  And  so  from  court  to  cottage  I  dejaart ; 

Ti,     My  saint  is  sure  of  my  unspotted  heart. 

"  And  when  I  sadly  sit  in  lonely  cell, 

I'll  teach  my  swains  this  carol  for  a  song  : 
'  Blest  be  the  hearts  that  wish  my  Sovereign  well. 
Curst  be  the  souls  that  think  to  do  her  wrong.' 
Goddess  I  vouchsafe  this  aged  man  his  right, 
To  be  your  beadsman  now  that  v/as  your  knight." 

Parallels  are  fouud  in  Bacon  and  Slialcsp^-e  with 
:  almost  every  sentiment  and  expression  in  these  lines. 
(See  Mrs.  Pott's  "Promus,"  p.  528.) 

The  verses  were  published  anonymously  in  Dow- 
land's  "  First  Book  of  Songs,"  IGOO,  aud^ag-ain  in  1844  ; 
both  times  with  the  pronouns  changed  from  the  first 
to  the  third  person — e.g.,  "His  golden  locks,"  etc. 
In  the  "Works  of  George  Peele,"  1828,  they  are 
credited  to  that  poet,  but  the  only  evidence  adduced  of 
his  authorship  is  the  fact  that  he,  as  an  eye-witness, 
wrote  a  poetic  description  of  the  celebration  in  1590. 
Mrs.  Pott  is  doubtless  right  in  claiming  for  Bacon  the 
.authorship,  and  is  onl}"  mistaken  in  supposing  that  the 
person  to  whom  the  verses  were  intended  to  appl  y  was 
Xiord  Burleigh,  who  about  that  time,  on  account  of  the 
lo.:iS  of  his  wife,  had  temporarily  withdrawn  from  court. 


Bacon  aud  Shaksper.. 

A     CHRONOGRAPHIC     PARALLEL 

Francis  Bacon. 
Born  January  22,  1561 ; 
died  Apptl  4).  KJS^  ;  aijed 


eifsty-fire  vears. 

Son  of  *  Lord  Keep«x- 
of  England,  a  learned 
Protestant. 

Educated  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Cambridge. 

Left  college  at  fifteen, 
not  a  graduate^  /tcovj-  A 

Went     as    an     atta 
to    the    Court    of    Paris, 
from  fifteen  to  eiebteen. 


Williain  iS/ia/csper..9 
Born  ^ipril-*3.    15G^  ; 
died  April  28,  IGIG  ;  aged 
fiftv-tft^  vears. 

•  :?  ^ 

Sou  of  a  woolstapler 
and  glover  of  Stratford, 
an  illiterate  Catholic. 

Taught  at  a  free  school 
in  Stratford — perhaps. 

Left  school  at  fourteen 
-if  he  ever  was  at  school. 


Worked  with  his  father 
at  a  trade  until  eighteen, 
or  louerer. 


Learned  French,  Ital- 
ian, and  Spanish. 

Returned  »h-  the  death 
of  hiflfTnither,  bearing  a 
dispatcn  to  the  Queen. 

Married  at  forty-five  to 
a  handsome  young  maiden 
of  rank. 

"  Then  let  thy  love  be  younger 

than  thyself, 
Or  thy  affection  cannot  hold 

the  bent." 

—  Twelfth  Night,  ii,  4. 


D  r  a  n  k  beor  at  pot- 
houses— probably. 

Said  to  have  hunted 
conies  and  poached  on 
neighboring  deer-pwks. 

Married  at  eighteen 
(name  Shagsper)  to  a  girl 
of  twenty-six. 

"  His  works  arc  full  of  pne- 
sages  .  .  .  v.'liich,  if  he  had 
loved  and  houond  her,  he 
could  not  have  written." 

—  M'hifr'.s  Slnlh-..  ]).  -.1. 


46 


BACON    AND    SHAKSPER';. 


Had  no  child  after 
tweuty  years'  marriage. 

"  The  noblest  works  and 
foundations  have  i^roceeded 
from  childless  men." — Bacon's 
Essays,  1612. 

Admitted  to  the  bar  at 
twent^'-one  :  elected  to 
Parliameut  at  twenty- 
three.* 


Child  born  fi^'e  months 
after  marriage. 

"  The  less  that  is  said  about 
the  matter  the  better." 

—  White's  Shak.,  p.  49. 


Absconded  from  Strat- 
ford to  London  at  twenty- 
two  or  twenty-three. 


An  ideal  tableau  of  the  youthful  statesman  is  gaily 
depicted  by  Wm.  Hepworth  Dixon,  in  his  "  Personal 
History  of  Lord  Bacon :" 

"  How  he  appears  in  oiatward  guise  and  aspect  among  these 

courtly  and  martial  contemijoraries  the  miniature  of  Hilyard 

heljDS  us  to  conceive.     Slight  in  build,  rosj^  and  round  in  flesh, 

dight  in  a  sumjjtuous  suit,  the  head  well-set,  erect,  and  framed 

in  a  thick  starched  fence  of  frill ;  a  bloom  of   study  and  ti'avel 

on  the  fat,  girlish  face,  which  looks  far  younger  than  his  years ; 

the  hat  and  feather  tossed  aside  from  the  white  brow,  over  which 

crisps  and  curls  a  mane  of   dark,  soft  hair ;  an  English  nose, 

firm,  open,  straight ;    a  mouth  delicate  and  small — a  lady's  or 

jester's  mouth — a  thousand  pranks  and  Jjiumors,  quibbles,  whims 

and  laughters  lurking  in  its  twinkling,  tremulous  lines; — such 

is  Francis  Bacon  at  the  age  of  twenty-four." 

3. 

Bearing  in  mind  that  Bacon  is  fctrree  years  and  tirree-' 
months  older  than  Shaksper'.',  we  will  now  parallel  their 
lives  by  successive  years. 

*  If  the  Parliament  met  November  23,  1.584,  as  Mr.  Spedding; 
distinctly  says,  then  Bacon  was  not  yet  tweuty -four. 


A     CHRONOGRAPHIC    PARALLEL.  47 


A.  D.  1585. 

Bacon  at  24,  iu  a  letter  to  the  Queeu's  principal 
secretary.  Sir  Francis  Walsiiigliani.  urges  bis  some  time 
pending  suit,  which  is  to  determine  his  "course  of 
practice  " — supposed  to  mean  a  shortening  of  the  five 
years'  probation  required  to  become  a  pleader. 

He  writi?s  an  essay  entitled  *'  Greatest  Birth  of 
Time,''  foreshadowing  his  scientific  works. 

HfiCmother  in  her  zeal  for  the  Nonconformists  urges 
their  cause  in  person  before  Lord  Treasurer  Burleigh, 
and  follows  it  by  a  letter  to  the  same  in  which  she  says : 

"I  confess  as  one  that  hath  found  mercy,  that  I  have  pi-olited 
more  in  the  inward  feeling  knowledge  of  God  his  holy  will, 
though  but  in  small  measure,  by  an  ordinary  preaching  within 
tiiese  seven  or  eight  years,  than  I  did  by  hearing  odd  sermons 
at  Paul's  well  nigh  twenty  years  together." 


1^ 
Shaksper   at  2)1  is  still  living  at  Stratford,  the  father 

of  three  children — two  of  them  twins.      His  father  is 

said  to  have  been  a  butcher  as  well  as  a  dealer  in  wool ; 

and  gossii)ing  John  Aubrey  says  he  was  told  by  some 

of  the  neighbors  that  wiien  the  boy  William  "kill'd 

a  calfe,  he  wold  doe  it  in  a  high  style,  and  make  a 

speeche." 

Mr.  Richard  Grant  ^Yhite  guesses  that  Williani  may 

have  gone  to  London  this  year  or  the  next. 


48  BAUON    AND    SHAKSPERE. 


A.  D.  1586. 
Bacon  at  25  writes  a  letter,  May  6th,  to  Lord  Treas- 
urer Burleigh,  his  uncle,  saying  : 

"I  fiud  iu  my  simple  observation  that  they  which  live  as  it 
were  in  umbra  and  not  in  public  or  frequent  action,  how  mod- 
erately and  modestly  soever  they  behave  themselves,  yet  laboi'ant 
invidla.  I  find  also  that  such  persons  as  are  of  nature  bashful 
(as  myself  is,)  whereby  they  want  that  plausible  familiarity 
which  others  have,  are  often  mistaken  for  proud.  But  once  I 
know  well,  and  I  most  humbly  beseech  your  Lordship  to  be- 
lieve that  arrogancy  and  overweening  is  so  far  from  my  nature, 
as,  if  I  think  well  of  myself  iu  anything,  it  is  in  this,  that  I  am 
free  from  that  vice." 

He  is  again  elected  to  Parliament.  The  conspira- 
tors who  attempted  to  liberate  Mary  of  Scotland  have 
been  tried,  condemned,  and  sentenced.  The  case  is 
brought  before  the  Parliament.  Bacon  is  one  of  the 
speakers  in  "  the  Great  Cause,"  and  one  of  the  com- 
mittees to  whom  it  is  referred. 


3 

Shaksper^   at  2^    is    probably   still    at    Stratford, 

though  Mr.  White  presumes  he  has  become  connected 
with  the  London  stage  this  year,  or  perhaps  a  little 
later. 


To  be  continued  to  the  end  of  both  lives,  making  a  book  of 
300  pages  or  more,  including  this  pamphlet  as  an  apjiendix,  with 
important  additions.  All  the  essential  facts  of  Lord  Bacon's 
life  will  be  presented,  whereby  his  secret  authorship  will  be 
more  abundantly  proved,  and  his  moral  character  vindicated 
against  the  aspersions  of  260  years. 


-HE     -SHAKSPER"     AUTOGRAPHS. 

The  spelling  of  tbe  live  autographs  of   the  ^'Bard 

The  speiu  „       .  ^vitbout  a  tinal  e. 

,f  Avon"  IS  S-h-a-k  s  p      ,  signature,  sub- 

This  is  plain  enough  m  th    eaihest     .  ^^    ^^ 

scribed  to  the  deed  of  March  10,  Ibl^ 

on  next  page.)  ^^vtaafre    dated  March  H, 

The  signature  to  the  ^^'^^gff  ^^^^      .  ,,ith  an  a 

iei3,  i^o.  2)^  --^Iptls  protlle  Mr.  W    H. 
above  the  e ;  but  I  accept        1  ^^  f,,,ther 

Edwards's  reading  of  the  n-e  ^^^^^^^^^^  ^^^^^^^.        ,  ,, 
contends  that  only  thrs  ^^^^^^^,,  .,  the  law- 
the  last  signature  were  J-    ,^;^;         ^,  ,,,,a  might 
^er-s  office  boy  or  any  other  pers 
,nte  the  name  in  those  trmes.        ^^^  .^^^^  ^^^.^^  ^^^^.^ 
The  next  autograph  (No  _^)  y  ^^.^^  ^^  ^, 

,,,,,,  being  the  arst  of  the  f-^^^^^^^^^^^.^  ^^.^, 
many  sheets  of  his  will.     It  has  ^^  ^^^  .^^^  ^.^ 

has  been  mistaken  for  an  e,  hut  .a  ^^^  ^^^^      ^^^^^^ 
•    muchlike  our  script  w  tilted     i  Language," 

bury's  "  Method  of  learn.ug  the  ^^i.eovered 

lesson  III,  has  it  as  ^^-n  on  next    a^^^^^^^  ^^  ^^^^ 

itandgaveittoMr.Ed.aids^ 

Shaksper  was  the  t^-e  speUin  ^^       ^^^  ^^^.^^.^^^ 

In  the  remaining  autogiapbs  ^4 

letters  after  p  ^^'^ ^^^'^^}'.^^^„  more  or  less  defaced 
The  original  autographs  bein  .^  ^^^ 

by  tirne,  I  have  ^^^^^t^.^J.  in  Drake's 
appended  copies  from  en  ^  ^^^^ 

u  shakspeare  and  H  s  i mi  ^^^^^  ^^^,^  ^^t,^. 

Those  which     P;^^f;^  my  own  hand  fi-om 

sively  copied.     I  traced  ^^.^^^^^^^  ^^^^.,,t,  as 

Drake's  engravings,  ^J^^^^  .    ,bs  of  the  origuia 

,bown  by/^^   -;tl^^'::;odLod  near  the  end  of 
manuscripts.     1^^^^  uui 


50 


BACON    AND    SHAKSPER 


signature  4,  in  tlie  vacant  space  shown,  what  appears 
to  be  a  superfluous  flourish.  It  is  not  a  part  of  the 
signature,  but  belongs  to  the  body  of  the  will,  and  is 
a  "ye."  Shakesper,  or  whoever  scrawled  the  name, 
had  to  skip  it  between  the  e  and  r  of  his  signature. 


4 


Yxpve£w'   (^f^ 


w- 


German  script  r:  ^. 


BACON    AND    SHAKSPER  51 

In  the  Will  the  name  is  twice  written  Shackspeare ; 
in  the  deeds  of  1613  it  is  Shakespeare. 

The  discovery  of  the  German  script  r  in  autograph  3 
was  made  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Edwards  of  Coalburg,  W.  Va., 
author  of  "  Shaksper  not  Shakespeare,"'  1900,  now  out 
of  print  by  fire. 

,    '  COREECTIONS. 

Scarcely  a  correction  is  needed  in  my  pamphlet, 
published. twenty  years  ago.  In  the  first  two  lines 
on  the  Sonnets  strike  out  the  words  ''  so  far  as 
known."  On  page  19  substitute  for  '•  part  owner  of  " 
the  words  "  interested  in."  Shaksper  in  1590  may 
have  been  a  gatekeeper  of  a  theater. 

LORD  BACON'S  BROTHER. 
Dr.  Owen's  "  Cipher  Story "'  discloses  the  fact  that 
the  Earl  of  Essex-  was  Bacon's  own   brother,  both 
sons  of  Queen  Elizabeth  by  her  secret  marriage  to 
the  Earl  of  Leicester. 

THE  CONCEALED  POET  "IGNOTO." 

My  discovery  of  Ignoto  is  confirmed  by  a  little  book 
of  "  Poems  :  by  Wil  Sliake-speare,  Geat.,'"  1G40,  fac 
simile  reprint  1885.  It  contains  many  of  the  Son- 
nets, some  with  verljal  changes,  and  each  one  or  two 
with  approjjriate  hcadiugs  ;  also  several  of  the  poems 
originally  signed  "  Ignoto;"  also  a  few  poems  of  the 
character  of  "  Venus  and  Adonis,"  heretofore 
iiuknown,  at  least  to  mo 

The  song  "  Come  live  with  me  and  be  my  love," 
<1  noted  on  pages  33-34  of  my  pamphlet  and  signed 
"  Clir.  Marlowe,"  belongs  to  '' Shake-speai'e;"  also 
•'  The  Nymph's  Reply,"  in  the  same  "  Poems  :  by 
Wil  Shake-speare,  Gent." 


S    r-      >F  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


52 


BACOr.    AxV 


■1^1 


LORD  BACOiN  S  DEATH. 

Lord  Bacon  died  to  the  world  only  in  1626  ;  he  was- 
driven  into  exile  by  the  Rosicrucian  Society  which  he 
himself  founded,  as  proved  in  my  pamphlet,  "  Light 
on  Freemasonry,"  1901,  and  he  lived  at  least  fifteen 
years  longer.  Therefore  he  undoubtedly  prepared 
and  published,  in  1640,  the  "Poems:  by  Wil  Shake- 
speare, Gent." 

A  NEWLY  DISCOVERED  CIPHER. 

Note  a  cipher  in  Sonnet  76,  jmnted  on  page  25i 
In  line  one  the  6th  word  begins  with  b  ;  in  line  3  the 
9th  word  begins  with  a  ;  in  lines  4,  5  and  6,  the  6th 
word  begins  consecutively  with  c,  o,  n.  Each  num- 
bered word  is  a  multiple  of  3,  and  the  initials  spell 
BACON. 

Why  is  my  verse  so  Barren  of  new  pride 

So  far  from  variation  or  quick  change  ? 
Why  with  the  time  do  I  not  glance  Aside, 

To  new-found  methods  and  to  Compounds  strange? 
Why  wrote  I  still  all  One,  ever  the  same, 

And  keep  invention  in  a  Noted  weed, 
That  every  word  doth  almost  tell  my  name, 

Showing  their  birth  and  where  they  did  proceed  ? 

This  cipher  was  discovered  February  1,  1905,  by 
Mr.  R.  A.  Smith,  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

POSTPONED. 

My  "  Chronological  Parallel,"  begun  on  page  45, 
was  long  ago  completed,  but  its  publication  is  indef- 
iuitely  postponed. 

WM.  HENRY  BURR. 
Washington,  D.  C,  A2yril  15, 1906. 

[■  THE  LIBK^KY 


O         I      I  v^*-" 


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